Romanian maize and sunseed yields hit by drought, says minister
BUCHAREST, July 17 (Reuters) -Nearly 2 million hectares of maize and sunseed crops have been affected by drought in Romania so far this year, causing significant damage, Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu said on Wednesday.
Drought will affect the wheat harvest much less, Barbu was quoted saying by state news agency Agerpres, with 100,000 hectares damaged.
"With maize and sunseed there will be significant losses because of drought. We have almost 2 million hectares affected," Barbu said, adding that he expected final numbers by Sept. 15.
Barbu said he expected the wheat harvest to exceed 7 million metric tons this year and estimated that Romania will pay farmers drought damages worth up to 600 million euros ($656.3 million).
After recording losses in double-digit percentages in 2022 as a result of drought and higher production costs, yields recovered in 2023. The European Union state reaped 9.62 million tons of wheat in 2023, up 11% from 2022, data from the national statistics board showed.
The maize harvest stood at a larger than initially expected 8.74 million tons, up 9% on the year. Sunseed production was down 4.3% at 2.02 million tons.
Romania is among the European Union's largest grain sellers and an active exporter, with Egypt a main buyer. In 2023 it was the EU's fourth-largest wheat producer and third-largest maize producer, the statistics office said.
Strategie Grains increased this month its monthly forecast for EU soft wheat production and cut its outlook for the bloc's barley and maize crops as it factored in good harvest indications in countries such as Spain and worsening prospects in France.
($1 = 0.9142 euros)
Reporting by Luiza Ilie
Editing by David Goodman
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