Winter Stalls Romanian Wheat, Maize OK
9 May 2006 A long and cold Winter will limit Romanian wheat production to 4.4 million metric tons (MT) in 2006/07, a significant fall from 2005/06. However, the country’s maize crop looks strong, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS).
Cold arctic temperatures it Romanian wheat growing areas in late January and lasted for two to three weeks. The lack of snow cover on crops led to substantial damage to fields, particularly for canola and barley planted in the Autumn.
The cold weather continued through March, and led to a prolonged frost during the vegetative growth phases of barley and wheat. In addition, Winter kill caused damages on approximately 105,000 hectares (Ha) of wheat and 53,000 Ha of barley. Particularly affected were Dobrogea (Constanta and Tulcea), the Baragan plain (Calarasi), and northern parts of Moldova and Transylvania, reports USDA-FAS.
The current production forecast for wheat stands at 4.4 million MT from 1.9 million Ha nationwide. For barley, the estimates are around 750,000 MT from 360,000 Ha.
Maize Returns
Maize may be making its comeback this season in Romania. While it was not an attractive crop in 2005/06, many small farms and co-ops will look back to maize in 2006/07. Maize area is expected to grow to approximately 3 million Ha this season, which would be on par with the country’s 2004 and 2005 levels.
The growth in maize area is expected to lead to the production of 10 million MT.
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