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Agriculture : Eurostat: Romania had a 39.1 percent growth in the production of cereals in 2014
The European Union's cereal harvest in 2014 was a record-high 331.7 million tonnes, with France holding the top position in the ranking of cereal producers with 72.7 million tonnes, followed by Germany (52 million tonnes), Poland (31.9 million tonnes), the United Kingdom (24.5 million tonnes) and Romania (22.1 million tonnes), shows data released on Thursday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).
In 2014, the cereal production increased from 2013 in most member states; Romania saw a similar upward trend, with the figure rising from 20.8 million tonnes to 22.1 million tonnes. The EU production of cereals in 2014 was by 15.2 percent higher compared to the average production in the period 2000 - 2012, despite the 5 percent decrease of the area under cultivation. The member states to see the most remarkable growth in the production of cereals were the Baltic States - Lithuania (72.4 percent), Estonia (70.3 percent) and Latvia (68.3 percent); followed by Bulgaria (56.9 percent), Slovakia (49.3 percent) and Romania (39.1 percent).
Expressed as share of the total, cereals represent 13 percent of EU's agricultural production and equal 25 percent of the Union's plant production.
In 2014, the EU's sheep population was 84.2 million animals, nearly identical to that of cattle. The UK accounts for more than one quarter (27 percent) of the EU sheep population, having 23 million animals, followed by Spain (18 percent) and Romania (11 percent / 9.5 million sheep).
However, Romania is not among the nations with the highest contribution to the value of the EU agricultural production. France is the leader in this respect, accounting for 18 percent of the EU total, followed by Germany (14 percent), Italy (13 percent), Spain (10 percent), the UK (8 percent), the Netherlands (7 percent) and Poland (5 percent). These seven member states account for an aggregate three quarters of the EU agricultural production.
Pigs, cattle and sheep represent 17 percent of EU's agricultural production and 42 percent of the animal production, respectively.