Romania’s winter crops, including wheat, have largely avoided significant damage from the dry and warm weather in July, while maize and sunflower yields, although revised downwards, are still expected to remain above last year’s levels, according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) cited by Economica.net.

The heat wave has had a stronger impact on agricultural areas in Hungary, while eastern Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria have benefited from comparatively favourable conditions.

“The Black Sea region continues to present very favourable conditions. Bulgaria, eastern Romania and southern Ukraine record above-average biomass levels for both winter and summer crops, reflecting generally adequate water availability throughout the season,” the JRC said in its July report.

“Estimates for summer crop production have been revised downwards, but are still above the average of the last five years,” JRC analysts said.

The JRC raised its forecast for Romania’s average wheat yield by 2% from its June estimate, to 5.3 tonnes per hectare. This would be 6% below last year’s record yield of 5.5 tonnes per hectare, but 17% above the average of the past five years, the largest increase above the five-year average among EU member states.

Common wheat covers 2.2 million hectares this agricultural year, up 9.8% from the previous year, when Romania harvested a record approximately 12.6 million tonnes.

For grain maize, the JRC cut its July yield estimate by 3% from the previous month, to 4.03 tonnes per hectare. The forecast remains 2% above last year’s yield and broadly in line with the five-year average.

The European Commission estimates that Romanian farmers cultivated 1.96 million hectares of maize, unchanged from last year, implying total production of around 7.8 million tonnes. Romania harvested 7.7 million tonnes in 2025 and 5.9 million tonnes in 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

The JRC cut its sunflower yield forecast by 1% to 1.91 tonnes per hectare, still 12% above last year and 4% above the five-year average. Romania’s sunflower area is estimated at 1.2 million hectares, implying production of around 2.2 million tonnes, compared with 2 million tonnes last year.

Soybean yields were also revised down by 1%, to 2.08 tonnes per hectare, which remains 4% above last year but 1% below the five-year average.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Musuc Alexandr/Dreamstime.com)