Romania Latest
19/07/11 -- A brief but bang up-to-date report from our man in Romania:
"We have now done approx 750ha of rape. We lost 1 day with rain of 15mm last week. Temps are very hot and wheat is ripening in front of our eyes. Reports of decent wheat yields are everywhere. We will start next week."
Our Man In Romania
20/05/11 -- Here's an update on what's going on in Romania from my eyes and ears man on the ground over there:
Weather seems to be the theme of this week. Essentially Romania has had a very wet in some areas, dry in others, cold (apparently coldest on record for 15 years) spring. Crops were simply not growing on our higher land in the north east as it was plain too cold and too dry and no plants were accessing nitrogen.
Some rainfall in the north of approx 40mm over a 10 day spell fixed that and now its sunny. Crops are now growing at such a rate that growth stages whizz through in hours and certainly a lot faster than our sprayers !!
Crops in general look better in the north than the south. Our wheats in the last few days have started to cheer me up and now range from crap to very good versus previously crap to average. I am hoping the crap will improve. Rape is mixed with half of it really good and half average.
Overall our winter crops look better than last year now albeit they are 2–3 weeks behind.
Most of our sunflower is now in the ground and has emerged well, approx half our corn is in and just emerging. We will finish all seeding in the next 5 days and our spring situation is dramatically better than last year.
Local forecasts show us dry and warm for the next 10 days which should help. Rumours of a dry June and very hot July are around in triplicate but who knows that!
Romania Update
14/04/11 -- Here's a bit of interesting trivia for you, they plant more corn in Romania than any other European country. In fact this season they expect to plant more than 50% as much again as they will in France. It's a pity for them then that yields there aren't much more than a third of what they get in France, otherwise they'd have so much of the blinking stuff that they'd be thinking that they'd died and gone to corn heaven.
This year they are expected to plant 2.5 million hectares of corn, far more than France's 1.6 million, meaning that they'll account for a whopping 29% of the entire US corn area.
In contrary to western Europe, the weather in Romania has been quite different of late. Our man on the ground over there reports "wet and cold for the last 5 days. Around 25mm of rain in the last few days, temps at 11c whilst the UK etc are frying. Crops look OK, winter kill on ours very low at less than 2% and even then only a case of watching carefully as opposed to ploughing it up."
"Progress on seeding in the north is nonexistent but normal seeding starting date for sunflower in this area would be 15/4 so no dramas yet. Seeding in the south is moving albeit slowly."
Romania
24/03/11 -- Reports from Romania suggest that an acute lack of seed may lead to many acres going unplanted this year. My man on the ground over there says that they would normally expect a wheat acreage of around 2.1-2.2m ha, but that this season only 1.7m ha got planted in the autumn and that is before any winterkill. As far as rapeseed is concerned only around half of the "normal" overall 600,000 ha got planted in the autumn, and again there are potential wintekill issues here too.
"Farmers are apparently killing to get it (seed) to try and replace what was not seeded in the autumn - particularly rape in the south of Romania, but there is simply not the seed available," he says.
"So far on normal work progress, they are starting to top dress in the south of Romania and we should get going next week. Crops barely out of dormancy. Land very wet, but winterkill looks minimal in our area," he adds.
Romanian Wheat Latest
Last season drought was the problem for Romanian wheat growers, but this winter it's lack of cash.
In terms of cultivated area, Romania ranks joint fourth with Britain as the largest wheat grower in Europe. Yields however are only around a third of what we get in the UK, averaging just 2.4 MT/hectare, and half of the tillable area is still ploughed by horse-drawn equipment.
Wheat production in 2010 is seen at just 4.8 MMT, according to Ziarul, a daily financial newspaper published in Bucharest. That's around 200,000 MT down on last season, despite more favourable growing conditions.
Although the crop hasn't suffered too badly at the hands of the Romanian winter, around half the crop has had little or no fertiliser applied this season, they say.
Production could rise by up to a further 500,000 MT even if fertilisers were applied as late as now, but cash-strapped Romanian farmers simply don't have access to the credit required, the the chairman of the Romanian Farm Producers National Federation told them.
Romanian Winter Plantings Seen Down 30 Pct
Romanian farmers are expected to plant 30% less winter grains this year, according to UkrAgroConsult.
Drought in 2009, delayed receipt of farm subsidy payments, an antiquated infrastructure and low grain prices are all partly to blame.
Agrimoney.com report that since the collapse of Communism, the amount of irrigated land has slumped by more than 90% to well below 300,000 hectares.
A recent USDA tour of the country reported a "large amount" of deserted farms - "not land just lying fallow or waiting for next season's crop but vacant land" they add.
Lack of on-farm storage, in a country where half of the tillable area is still ploughed by horse-drawn equipment, means that many farmers are forced to take whatever price is on offer for their crops at harvest time.
Many have clearly had enough, at least for now.
Cargill Romania
Cargill say that it is making a major investment in its feed plant in Sura Mica near the town of Sibiu, Romania, including the construction of a complete-feed production line within the current premix facility. Cargill said the project also consists of an upgrade to the existing mixing system, the installation of a pelleting line and the addition of a warehouse to store finished products. The project will result in an increased capacity of nearly 50,000 tonnes/year, say Cargill.
I wonder if they make nuts for your dancing bear? And if they did what would they be called?
Big Three Trading Houses Regularly Beat Romanian Growers With A Stick
Three of the world's largest trading houses regularly beat Romanian farmers with a big stick it has been alleged.
"The producers are ‘harassed’ into selling the crop at low prices when harvesting it because they have no choice, they have no place to store it and the fact that sales in Romania are made as circumstances dictate gives traders an edge. We made them big with our weakness."
This is in a country where it's 'normal' to take your dancing bear into town with you when you go shopping mind, and half of the tillable area is still ploughed by horse-drawn equipment. These boys are ripe for a spanking.
They could always come over here and rewire my house if they're not happy.
Full story here: Jump!
Romanian Wheat Production Ravaged By Drought
More than a million hectares of Romanian wheat and rye have already been damaged by drought as the country braces itself for a forecast very dry June.
Daniel Botanoiu, adviser to the State Secretary with the Ministry of Agriculture, Floristries and Rural Development Catalin Rosculete, said that almost a quarter of the nation's planted area of around 7 million hectares was affected.
Of that, more than 600,000 hectares was already 50% destroyed he said, with much of the remaining area 50% damaged, he added.
Agriculture Minister Ilie Sarbu said that the country was on the verge of declaring a "calamity state" as only 500,000 hectares of the country's area under seed had adequate irrigation systems in place, with conditions expected to worsen next month.
"It is a sure thing that June has been forecast as a very dry month," he said.
Romania produced around 6.4 million tonnes of wheat in 2008, and was expecting output of around 5.2 million tonnes this year on a smaller planted area and reduced inputs. What size the crop now? Four million?
Romania Gets EUR12.95 Billion IMF Loan
Romania became the third EU member to receive a loan from the IMF in recent months (Hungary and Latvia were the first two), bagging a two-year rescue loan of EUR12.95 billion.
The country will receive the first tranche of EUR5 billion sometime this summer, say the IMF. I bet they can't wait for that cheque to arrive.
In total Romania says it needs a EUR20 billion bailout, the balance will come from the EU, World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
