Romania ranks 1st in EU for sunflower; Agricultural crop production rises across all crops in 2025

 Plant-based agricultural production increased in 2025 across all major crops, particularly due to higher yields per hectare, while the cultivated area expanded for most crops, according to provisional data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).The INS data show that in 2025, compared with the previous year, the cultivated area increased for oilseed crops, grains, vegetables and potatoes, and decreased for dried pulses.Furthermore, agricultural crop production increased in all crops: cereals for grains, oilseeds, vegetables, dried pulses and potatoes.At the European Union level, Romania ranked first in the area cultivated with sunflower and maize grains, and in first place, respectively third place in terms of production.In 2025, there was an increase in areas and yields (average production per hectare) for the main crops.The area cultivated with cereals for grains increased by 0.7% to 5.1 million hectare and the production by 37.2% to 24.51 million tones, mainly due to the increase of the yields per hectare.The area cultivated with wheat in 2025, at 2.31 million hectare, represents 45.3% of the total area cultivated with cereals for grains, while the area cultivated with maize for grain (1.97 million hectare) accounts for 38.6%.The cereal production increased mainly due to the increase of 36.6% in the production of wheat grains, 12.69 million tones, which held a share of 51.8% in the production of cereals.For dried pulses, production increased by 93.7% compared with the previous year, reaching 244,000 tones, due to higher yields per hectare.Regarding oilseeds, production rose by 60.9%, to 4.81 million tones, while the cultivated area increased by 11%, to 2.13 million hectare. Production gains were also recorded for rapeseed (+2.1 times, up to 2.5 million tones) and sunflower (+36.5%, up to 2.06 million tones), while soybean production declined (-15.4%, to 253,000 tones).For potatoes, the cultivated area increased by 2.6%, to 78,000 hectare, while production rose by 10%, to 1.16 million tones.Meanwhile, vegetable production increased by 20.8%, reaching 2.53 million tones, due to both higher yields per hectare and expanded cultivated areas.In 2025, compared with the previous year, grape production rose by 14.4%, to 809,000 tones, as a result of higher yields per hectare.Orchard fruit production decreased by 12.9%, to 612,000 tones, due to lower yields per hectare.Compared with some European Union member states in 2025, Romania ranked first in cultivated area for maize for grain and third in production, after France and Poland.For sunflower, Romania ranked first both in cultivated area and in production.For wheat, Romania ranked fourth in both cultivated area and production, after France, Germany and Poland.For potatoes, Romania ranked sixth in cultivated area, after Germany, Poland, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, and ninth in production, after Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Italy.