“This year’s wheat is quality wheat, the gluten [content] is high (which makes the difference between bakery and fodder wheat) but the quantity is low because of the abnormal heat lately,” Porumboiu explains, commenting on the situation of the local agricultural market.
The June estimates before farmers got to put their wheat harvest into barns and silos point to one million tons fewer than last year. The wheat harvest should therefore be 15% lower and reach 6.1 million tons, according to the estimates of Coceral, a European organization of grain traders.
Adrian Porumboiu’s wheat harvest, too, will be lower this year, according to the preliminary estimates after the Racova group finished harvesting 15% of the crop.
“I’ve harvested about 15% of the crop so far. It is too early to provide a very clear estimate. I will get a more accurate picture of the output once I’ve harvested half of what I have. As an initial estimate, I can say the harvest will be lower but I hope to offset some of the losses with the higher output in other areas where I farm land,” Porumboiu said, adding he farmed land in five counties in Moldova.
In 2011, a record year for Romania’s agriculture when production was among the highest of the last two decades, Racova group harvested 145,000 tons of wheat, 15% more than in the previous year. The 2011 harvest was also Porumboiu’s highest of three years. He will have to settle for less this summer, but the decline will not be above “the risk margin”.
“I accept the risks; even though the average annual wheat production is 150,000 tons, it’s no problem if it goes down to 120,000 to 130,000 tons. I don’t think it will go beyond that,” says Porumboiu, who owns a farming business with about EUR200 million in revenue.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)