For the last month (July), Romania exported almost 600,000 tons of wheat, which became the largest amount exported by a member state of the European Union.
This year's good production should also mean lower bread prices, but "the war in Ukraine and the drought around the world have recently turned the stock market upside down," said Cesar Gheorghe, an agricultural market analyst.
"The fact that we produce this food ourselves and are by no means importers is a safeguard for the end consumer. There were bombings in Odessa and then successively in Reni and Izmail, which raised the level of prices on the stock exchange. Things have calmed down now, but the trend does not bode well for stability in the near future.”
The expert is of the opinion that there is no danger for bread in the country, giving the following example: "a bakery near Bucharest, for example, now buys a kilogram of flour for 1.60 lei. From one kilogram, the employees say they manage to produce three loaves of 300 grams, which they resell for 1.50 lei each. That's after they've covered all their production costs."
Despite these assurances, at the beginning of the month, Romania enacted an ordinance to cap the price of staple foods. In addition to bread, the regulation covers a number of other essential goods and foods.
An incident from the end of July, when two men broke the seals of a wagon in Constanta to steal wheat, testifies to the situation in the country. The curious thing in this case is that the theft of 500 kg led to the destruction of 10 tons of wheat.
“The two were caught in the act, on July 27, shortly after stealing 500 kilograms of wheat. After investigations, it was found that the grain was stolen from a freight train located in the Palace yard after the suspects broke the seals on the wagons. In this way, approximately ten tons of wheat flowed onto the railway embankment and were destroyed by the torrential rains," IPJ Constanţa reported.
In terms of trade, at the beginning of the week the prices of grain for delivery to the port of Constanta were: bread wheat - 232 EUR/ton, feed wheat - 219 EUR/ton, corn - 207 EUR/ton, barley - 179 EUR/ton, sunflower – 425 dollars/ton.
Leave a comment