Romanian exports of main arable crops performed well in the 2025-2026 agricultural year, Romania ranking 1st in the EU at wheat and maize exports. At the same time, the list of top-10 crop farms in Romania is dominated by foreign investors.
Exports of agri commodities perform well
In the 2025/26 agricultural year, Romania reinforced its status as the leading exporter of soft wheat in the European Union, with shipments totalling 7.26 million tonnes, ahead of France (5.56 million tonnes), Poland (3.26 million tonnes), Germany (2.30 million tonnes), and Lithuania (2.18 million tonnes).
Romania also performed quite well in other segments of the grain trade, finishing the season in second place for barley exports with 2.05 million tons, trailing only France (3.09 million tonnes), but ahead of Germany (1.45 million tonnes) and Denmark (1.19 million tonnes). In maize, Romania ranks first in the EU, with exports of 1.14 million tonnes. Exports in the oilseed sector also remained strong, totalling 280,182 tonnes of rapeseed and 720,349 tonnes of sunflower seeds.
Some experts claim that this result confirms the competitiveness of Romanian grains on international markets and the strategic role of the Port of Constanța as the main export hub for the Black Sea region, especially in a season characterised by logistical challenges and market volatility.
Some other experts believe that Romania should focus more on adding value to agricultural production and should strive to export more processed products instead of raw materials. The same holds true for the livestock sector, where the focus lies on the export of live animals or carcasses, Romanian leading in the EU in the export of sheep.
Top-10 crop farms
A ranking of the top-10 crop farms in Romania in 2026 was compiled based on the areas reported through the single payment applications for direct subsidies submitted in 2026 to the Paying and Intervention Agency for Agriculture (APIA). This year, a forth Romanian farm made it to the top-10, although the list is still dominated by foreign investors.
Beeld: © Source: www.economica.net / Top-10 crop farms
By far the largest farm in Romania is owned by the Al Dahra Group of the United Arab Emirates, through the Agricost company. Agricost operates the largest farm in Europe, with 57,000 hectares leased from the state in the area called Insula Mare a Brăilei (east Romania, surrounded by the “arms” of the Danube River).
According to the APIA ranking, the second-largest area for which subsidies were requested belongs to Intercereal, owned by entrepreneur Augustin Oancea and his family. According to its own data, the company farms 23,191 hectares of land, with agricultural production across four crop farms and two silos.
Another Romanian company, Agro Nevada Tim owned by Mateiu Corvin, ranked eighth this year in terms of cultivated area, after dropping one spot (and down 3 spots compared to 2021). Agro Nevada Tim farms over 17,000 hectares in Timiș County, according to Ferma Magazine.
While new to the top-10 ranking is the Oltyre company (Cerealcom Dolj group) of Romanian businessman Mihai Anghel. Anghel has now two of his agricultural farms among the country’s top ten, Cervina and Oltyre – the latter succeeding to surpass this year the German-owned Zimbrul S.A. company and climbed to tenth place.
In 2026, APIA received, as usual, an impressive number of direct payments applications: 671.334 applications for an area of 9.766.322 ha. However, this number is declining every year (708.012 in 2025, 730.395 in 2024), showing that a rather slow but clear consolidation process is taking place in Romania every year.
More information
For more information, you can reach out to the Netherlands Agricultural Network in Romania via: bkr-lvvn@minbuza.nl