Romania had one of the lowest yields in the European Union on corn and wheat production last year, even if the areas cultivated with wheat and corn are among the largest in the Union, according to recent data from Romania's Statistics Institute.

Production dropped by 52 percent for corn and by 28 percent for wheat in Romania last year. The country produced 5.9 million tonnes of corn on 2.7 million hectares, which is a yield of 2.1 tonnes per hectare, three times below the EU average of 6.1 million tonnes per hectare.

For wheat, Romania's yield was the lowest in the EU, and half the European average, 2.6 million tonnes per hectare, compared to the average of 5.4 million tonnes per hectare. The country produced 5.2 million tonnes of wheat on almost 2 million hectares of land.

The INS analysis shows agricultural production was down on all crops, except beet sugar. Potato production was down almost 40 percent, to some 2.4 million tonnes, partially because of the low yield per hectares, but also as the area cultivated with potatoes was also down by 8.2 percent. Romania came third last year on the area cultivated with potatoes, after Poland and Germany, but production wise it ranked only seventh.

The drop in agricultural production, mainly caused by the bad weather, was among the main factors which kept Romania from registering a higher overall economic increase in 2012, above the 0.3 percent increase posted.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)