A study conducted by agricultural cooperative Cooperativa Tara Mea in July 2020 shows Romania’s vegetable imports grew in 2019, including in the months of July and August, when the country abounds with locally grown vegetables.
In July 2019, Romania imported 25,635 tons of vegetable, worth EUR20.6 million, and the top of products imported includes frozen vegetables, potatoes, carrots, dried leguminous vegetables, tomatoes and onion. Pretty similar import values were also recorded in the other months in which the local production is in the peak season. Romania’s imports stood at 25,097 tons in August, at 25,635 tons in July, at 3,804 tons in June and at 34,249 tons in September. April saw the bulk of imports, namely 96,631 tons, while in August, Romania saw the lowest import volumes, namely, 25,097 tons, per data from the country’s statistics board INS.
In 2019, Romania’s vegetable imports stood at 740,000 tons, worth EUR516 million, compared to 678,318 tons, worth EUR424.3 million) in 2018, per INS data. The main suppliers were The Netherlands and Poland, with over 10,000 tons, followed by Turkey, Germany, France, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Egypt. Exports reached just 121,000 tons, worth EUR95.6 million.
Romania produced 3.57 million tons of vegetables, in 2019, lower than 3.7 million tons in 2018.
Cooperativa Ţara Mea has a total 940 member farmers, engrossed in various activities such as vegetable growing, dairy processing, pork and poultry production. Kaufland Romania is the main “marketplace” of the agricultural cooperative.
Source: Agroberichtenbuitenland.nl