Romania will lose up to 30% of its corn crop due to summer heat

According to Gabriel Razi, a representative of the Romanian company Harvista, some farmers are even forced to buy grain to pay farmers. In the southern regions, corn has literally “burned”, forcing farms to plow the fields.

According to the information coming from the market, the corn harvest will be bad.Agrarians who grow corn without irrigation get on average 2-4 tons/ha. Under irrigation, the result is better – 8 t/ha.Although under normal irrigation conditions, Romanian farmers get an average of 15 t/ha.

Somewhat better yields are expected in the western part of Romania, where there was rainfall and where 350 thousand hectares have been sown. Agribusinesses from these areas can still contribute to the market.

Romania is expected to harvest 7.7 million tons of corn this year. This is 30% less than last year’s figure, because in a typical year Romania collects about 12 million tons of this grain.

Traditionally, Romania is a corn exporting country (the main importers of Romanian corn are Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Middle East countries – ed.). Exports in MY 2024/2025 are projected to decline to about 2.2 million tons (4.4 million last year).However, a good corn harvest is expected in Western Europe due to rains this summer. Perhaps countries like Spain will buy corn from France for example. I’m sure the US and Argentina will be happy to sell it too.

Imports this year may increase to 730,000 tons compared to 380,000 tons last year.By importing, for example, from countries like Serbia or Moldova, we will supplement our lower corn harvest.

Romania has already harvested 50% of sunseed area (as of August 21 – editor’s note).The results are quite modest – the yield is not more than 1.5-2 t/ha. This is the worst harvest for the last 5 years. But again, in the western part of the country the yield is expected to be better.

On the other hand, the quality of Romanian wheat remains at a high level despite difficult weather conditions.

Tags: corn, Romania, drought, sunseed