The Coalition for the Development of Romania (CDR), an association of local investors, argues in favor of a Protected Designation of Origin label for Romanian farmers and for the processors of local farms’ products, which would help them become more competitive on the market, Ziarul Financiar reported.

At the same time, this certification would help customers gain access to the origin and amount of local raw material used in the production of processed food, argued Dumitru Fodor, who represents Romanian Business leader in the Agriculture committee of CDR and coordinated the project.

The voluntary certification scheme proposed by the CDR involves the Ministry of Agriculture as the competent authority and will be based on a methodology according to European practices.

The project addresses consumers’ interest in local products and the rising deficit in the trade with food goods.

According to a report published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Romania’s net import of agri-food from EU countries increased by 30% YoY to EUR 3.1 bln.

This comes against evidence that the Romanian consumers turned increasingly interested in buying Romanian products, but it is difficult for them to find out how much raw material of local origin is included in the final products.

(Photo: Rusty Elliott | Dreamstime.com)

andrei@romania-insider.com