Aid for food producers

The Romanian Finance Minister says that authorities are working on a funding program meant to support domestic food producers

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Roxana Vasile, 08.02.2023, 13:50

Romanian authorities are working on a funding program of over 1 billion euros to support Romanian producers, especially in the food processing sector. Benefiting from this will be pork and chicken processors, as well as dairy companies, so that they can benefit from the lowest possible production costs. The announcement was made by the Minister of Finance, Adrian Câciu, during a conference.

We should say that, lately, although food imports have grown at a slower rate than exports, Romanian factories haven’t been able to cover the trade deficit. Thus, meat, milk, fruits and vegetables are produced with the largest trade deficits in the food sector. Referring, for example, to the pig sector in particular, the Minister of Finance stressed that the state will continue to resort to consolidated funding programs, in addition to the European funds.

At the same time, the current government measures will be complemented by new funding initiatives, better adapted to the needs of the domestic market. Romania has a long tradition in the animal husbandry field, but currently, it is forced to import pork worth hundreds of millions of euros annually. If a decade ago, more than 6 million pigs were produced in the country, today some farms are closed, because they do not have viable sales solutions, and the existing small slaughterhouses cannot cope.

However, a solution would be precisely the development, on a national level, of large-capacity slaughterhouses. Then, Romania, the number 1 producer of grain corn in the EU, could direct its harvest to the national livestock sector. Authorities also focus on the fight against swine fever and programs to support the husbandry activity. Meanwhile, the breeders of dairy cows have called on the decision-makers to stop the imports of milk from Ukraine, Hungary or Poland or to regulate a guaranteed minimum price that processors should offer per liter of milk.

Otherwise, Romanian farmers are forced to sell their product at a lower price due to competition and fear bankruptcy. The situation is not better for eggs either! Because of the insufficient number of farms, the avian flu that closed many of them, but also the increase in the price of feed and energy, the profit of local egg producers in Romania has dropped by up to 30%, and the price of an egg in stores is now higher than in other European Union countries. And in this case, part of the consumption need is covered by imports. (MI)