EC: Romania, Market Leader In Exports Of Common Wheat And Corn

Romania remains the second largest grain exporter in the EU, after France, confirms European Commission data for the first half of this commercial year. Compared to previous years, local farmers won the leading position in common wheat as well, not just corn. Practically, a quarter of the deliveries of the community block are from Romania.   In the first 30 weeks of the current commercial year, Romania exported 6.3 million tons of cereals (wheat, common wheat flour – grain equivalent, durum wheat, durum wheat flour – grain equivalent, barley, malt – grain equivalent , corn, rye, oats and sorghum), i.e. more than 25% of the 25.1 million tons delivered by member states across its borders.   Therefore, Romania still ranks second after France, as last year, when, in total, our country delivered 8.1 million tons of grain. More precisely, after the middle of this commercial year (01/07/2023 – 19/01/2024) the EU ranking is as follows: France in first place, with a total of 7 million tons, followed by Romania, with 6.3 million of tons, Poland with 2.8 million tons and Germany – 2.2 million tons.   By cereal category, Romania remains the largest exporter of corn, with 1.4 million tons, i.e. approximately 67% of the EU’s total corn exports. For comparison, last year deliveries to Romanian farmers amounted to 2 million tons.   Romania is currently the new market leader in wheat exports, surpassing the established leader France by approximately 125,000 tons. More precisely, during the analyzed period, our country delivered 4.2 million tons of wheat across EU borders, i.e. 24.4% of the total amount exported by the EU bloc, while France sold 4.1 million tons across borders , being followed by Poland, with 2.4 million tons. Last year, Romania was the second largest exporter of common wheat, after France, with 4.6 million tons out of a total made by the European community of 31.1 million tons.   According to European Commission data, the most important markets for European cereals during the analyzed period were Morocco (14%), Nigeria (10%), Algeria (8.5%), if we refer to common wheat, Korea (28, 4%), Great Britain (22%), Iran (16.1%) if we consider corn.   In the case of Romanian goods, the largest quantities (until November 2023) went to Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Korea, two of them (Egypt and Saudi Arabia) being particularly targeted by Russia, an extremely competitive strong for Europe in the grain market.