Browse Data and Analysis

Animal health concerns, feed, energy, fuel prices, and labor are the major factors impacting the Romanian swine sector. Romania’s swine herd had a 5.9 percent year-on-year decline in May 2022, while pork meat imports grew by 23 percent during the first eight months of 2022.

Romania, a member of the European Union (EU), maintains a balanced view regarding agricultural biotechnology. Although no biotech crops are cultivated in Romania, farmers continue to view biotechnology as an instrument in managing the agronomic risks and sustaining their competitiveness.

In 2021, according to Romania’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS), Romania imported $182 million of U.S. food and agricultural products, up 2.7 percent compared to 2020. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's bulk, intermediate, and consumer-oriented (BICO), U.S. suppliers shipped $84 million of U.S. food and agricultural products to Romania in 2021.

On March 18, 2022, Romania’s Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health (IDAH) confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on a commercial laying hens farm located in southern Romania.

Romania and its 19.3 million consumers offer increasingly viable market opportunities for U.S. food and agriculture. In 2020, Romania imported $10.2 billion of food and agricultural products, of which two percent, or $177.26 million, were sourced from the United States.

As a European Union (EU) member since 2007, Romania observes the EU regulations and directives, which are applied directly or transposed through national-level implementing regulations.

Romania applies European Union (EU) regulations on imports of animal and non-animal products from the United States. The legislation on export certification is generally harmonized at the EU level. Romanian legislation applies to the minor categories on which requirements are not harmonized.

Romania is one of the European Union’s (EU) most progressive and pro-science Member States (MSs) regarding agricultural biotechnology. Currently, Romanian farmers cultivate no commercial biotech crops, but they widely use imported genetically engineered (GE) soybean meal as a livestock feed ingredient.

The number of active African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in Romania continues to remain high. At the end of October 2021, there was a 43 percent surge in the number of outbreaks from the same time in 2020.

In marketing year (MY) 2021/22, total year-on-year Romanian oilseed production is forecast to increase by 36 percent due to favorable weather.

Year-on-year Romanian grain production in marketing year (MY) 2021/22 is projected to grow by 28 percent following last year’s severe summer drought.

On May 6, 2021, Romania’s Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a commercial poultry farm in central Romania.