Romania’s record-breaking wheat harvest at 10 million mt: ministry

Romanian wheat production for the 2017/18 marketing year broke all records as 10.16 million mt was grown, data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed.

As well as breaking previous production records, both planted area and yield were the highest recorded since records began in 1970. On average, yields were seen at 4.84 mt/hectare.

Despite the size of this year’s crop, exports have been slower than in previous years, as Romanian wheat has had to compete with Russian production coming from the other side of the Black Sea. 

While Romanian wheat is currently matched in price to Russian-origin wheat at approximately $192-$193/mt FOB for December shipment, it is typically of a slightly lower protein content.

Other crops performed similarly well in terms of production, with total cereal output the highest on record at 26.87 million mt.

Corn production came in at 14.61 million mt, just edging out the previously existing production record of 14.54 million mt set in 2004.