Romania harvested more than 14.5 million tonnes of corn grains this year, with the average yield being nearly 6 tonnes per hectare, agriculture minister Petre Daea told local Agerpres.

“It will be for sure the largest total production of grain corn of Romania,” the minister said.

Statistics data from the Agriculture Ministry showed that the total production of grain corn went up by some 45% year-on-year in 2017, given that in 2016 the country harvested slightly over 10 tonnes of grains. This year’s production is also 28% higher than the record one registered in 2014, of 11.3 million tonnes.

In the last 10 years, the area cultivated with corn was between 2.3 and 2.7 million hectares, the only exception being 2010, when the area didn’t exceed 2.1 million hectares at national level.

Romania is also one of the largest producers of cereals in the EU. With 21.8 million tonnes harvested in 2016, the country ranks fifth in the European Union, after France (54.2 million tonnes), Germany (45.4 million tonnes of cereals harvested), Poland (29.8 million tonnes), Spain (24.1 million tonnes), and the United Kingdom (almost 22 million tonnes), according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

In the European Union, over 57 million hectares were used to harvest 301.8 million tonnes of cereals (including rice) in 2016. This represents 590 kilograms of cereal harvested for each EU inhabitant.

Compared to 2015, the harvested production of cereals increased by 12.5% in Romania in 2016, this being one of the largest year-on-year increases in the EU. Slovakia saw a growth of 27.4%, Croatia reported an increase of 27.1%, Spain – up 19.7%, Hungary – up 17.7%, Austria – up 17.5%, and Italy – up 13%.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com