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Romania ends 2020 with a deficit of almost two billion euros in agri-food trade
Romania ended 2020 with a deficit of almost two billion euros in trade in agri-food products, given that imports rose to 8.9 billion euros and exports declined to 6.9 billion euros, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR).
"The pedological drought in the agricultural year 2019-2020 affected the agri-food sector both in terms of production and exports, so that the deficit of the trade balance in agri-food products in 2020 was 1.937 billion euros, increasing by 58.1% compared to of 2019. The deepening of the agri-food trade deficit was determined, in particular, by the strong decrease in exports of wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and soybeans," the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture say.
With the EU countries alone, the deficit exceeded 3.175 billion euros (2.654 billion euros in 2019), while the surplus with non-EU countries fell to 1.236 billion euros last year, from 1.428 billion euros in 2019.
According to the quoted source, the value of exports decreased by 2.9% in 2020, amounting to 6.99 billion euros, while imports increased in value by 6% to 8.92 billion euros.
Exports to EU countries amounted to 4.4 billion euros (4.57 billion euros in 2019), and to third countries totaled 2.58 billion euros (2.62 billion euros in 2019). In terms of the value of imports from the Community, it rose to 7.58 billion euros, compared to 7.22 billion euros in the previous year, while in the non-EU area an amount of 1.346 billion euros was recorded, increasing by 12.1% compared to 2019 (1.2 billion euros).
Romania registered in 2019 a deficit of 1.225 billion euros in agri-food trade, increasing by over 8% compared to 2018, when it amounted to 1.133 billion euros.