Recently, the online Romanian publication G4Food has reported on the difficult situation of the Romanian vegetable sector. Despite potential and good intentions, the sector’s decline and weak competitiveness persisted in along the years. The need for modernisation has never been clearer than it is today.
Beeld: © LAN Romania
On supermarket shelves or traditional market stalls and, origin labels with foreign country names have become the rule rather than the exception. Carrots come from the Netherlands, garlic from Hungary, celery from Poland, and apples from Italy. Consumers are surrounded by "imported" products, while Romanian fruit and vegetables are barely able to compete.
Skyrocketing imports
Official statistics show the scale of the phenomenon: in the first five months of the year, Romania imported almost five times more vegetables and fruit than it managed to export. The bill for these imports amounts to around two billion euros.
“Today, over 80% of fruit and vegetable consumption comes from imports. If nothing changes, in a few years we will reach 100%. Romanian potatoes and onions have become almost non-existent,” Gheorghe Vlad, president of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, told Observator news. “We have only around 20,000 ha with table potatoes, it should have been 250,000 ha instead” added Vlad on a sad note.
Processing units dependent on imported raw materials
The processing industry is no better off. Romania imports tens of thousands of tons of tomato paste from China every year, while domestic production covers a negligible share of the processing factories’ demand. "We import 60,000 tons of tomato paste from China (…); we can't find a single tomato seed in it. We don't even produce 5% of what the canning factories need," says Gheorghe Vlad.
Small farmers' work in vain
This reality hits small producers directly. For example, Sorin Cristea grows vegetables on 8,000 square meters in Giurgiu County. However, he had to give up almost 40% of his land because he could no longer sell his produce. "One of our complaints is imports, which come from abroad and prevent us from selling our products. We produce less because if we produce a lot, we can't sell what we produce," says Sorin Cristea, a vegetable farmer.
Insufficient subsidies and lack of association
In addition to unfair competition, farmers also complain about the lack of support from the state. Subsidies are low, and the lack of strong cooperatives makes them vulnerable to large retail chains.
At the same time, buyers acknowledge the paradox: although they appreciate the work of small producers, many choose visually perfect, imported goods, which are often also cheaper. "I try to buy from farmers, but I see that there are too many products on the market that don't seem to come from [Romanian] farms," customers admit. "People buy what looks good, not necessarily what tastes good," farmers complain. However, experts believe that price and taste are important factors in customers’ choices.
Romania, lagging behind in the European Union
Although over a million tons of vegetables were harvested last year, Romania ranks only 11th in the European Union, far behind major producers such as Spain, Italy, France, and Poland. Together, these four countries account for almost two-thirds of total European production, according to the G4Food article. Romanian original article is available here.
Challenges can become opportunities
The LAN Office in Bucharest is preparing a report on the Romanian horticultural sector, with its challenges and especially with its opportunities. Interested? Stay tuned to be the first to know when it becomes available. And consider also joining the agri trade mission to Romania during the Indagra fair, October 30-31, 2025.