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Trade : Romania imported food for 3.3 billion euros in semester 1, 2018
In the first semester of 2018, Romania’s imports totalled 40.2 billion euros, of which 8.2% were food imports - 3.3 billion euros. This amount has not been mentioned after 1989 and is double the amount recorded in 2008, official statistics show.
Data communicated by the National Statistics Institute (INS) show that Romania’s food exports in the first half of 2018 were only 2.2 billion euros, with a trade deficit of 1.08 billion euros, another historical record.
In 2008, food imports in the first semester of the year amounted to 1.6 billion euros. They went up constantly, crossing the threshold of 2 billion euros in the first half of 2013 and reaching 2.9 billion euros in 2016.
In 2018, specialists say we have one of the best farming years, but local producers could not cover the demand of farm produce. Retail trade for this group of products grew by 7% in the first semester, compared to the same period of 2017, INS shows.
Specialists warn that storage infrastructure with controlled atmosphere for foodstuff can maintain 40% national harvests , the rest being sold after harvesting or delivered to export, because long term storage is impossible. That is why Romania imports food in winter and spring, restoring the export/import balance in summer and fall.
2015 was the only year when the balance of trade with foodstuff recorded excess (exports higher than imports), on the background of record cereal deliveries in the foreign markets.