Romania opens 2026/2027 season as EU's top grain exporter, wheat shipments up 31.9%
Romania sold more than 2.5 million tonnes of common wheat outside the European Union in the first ten weeks of the 2026/2027 marketing year, 31.9% more than a year earlier, while EU exports as a whole fell about 1% to a three-year low. Barley shipments topped 1.2 million tonnes, roughly 75% of everything the bloc delivered to third countries.
Romania has opened the 2026/2027 marketing year as the European Union's leading grain exporter, with common wheat shipments outside the bloc up 31.9% year on year, according to Economica.net and PSNews.ro, which cite European Commission data. Barley volumes also edged higher, leaving the country responsible for roughly three quarters of all EU barley sold to third countries.
Wheat exports pass 2.5 million tonnes in ten weeks
In the first ten weeks of the marketing year, which began on 1 July, Romania sold more than 2.5 million tonnes of common wheat beyond EU borders. The bloc as a whole shipped 4.9 million tonnes over the same period, meaning Romanian cargoes made up slightly more than half of all EU common wheat moving to third countries.
The national figure runs counter to the wider trend. EU exports were down about 1% year on year and stood at their lowest level in three years, while Romania added almost a third to its volumes. The distance to the next-largest supplier is substantial: Lithuania, in second place, reported sales of 850,700 tonnes, roughly a third of the Romanian total.
Two consecutive strong harvests underpin the volumes. The 2025/2026 agricultural year delivered record output, and the crop gathered this year was again described as very good by both publications, giving exporters an unusually deep supply base at the start of the season.
Barley: three quarters of EU shipments
Romania exported more than 1.2 million tonnes of barley over the same ten weeks, about 1% above the year-earlier level. Total EU barley exports came to 1.6 million tonnes, so Romanian shipments accounted for approximately 75% of everything the bloc delivered outside its borders — roughly three times the combined volume sold by all other member states.
Demand concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa
The destination breakdown published by the two Romanian outlets refers to EU exports as a whole. For common wheat, the largest volumes went to:
- Saudi Arabia — 14.8% of EU exports
- Algeria — 11.9%
- Nigeria — 10.2%
Barley demand was more concentrated still:
- Saudi Arabia — 53.8% of the total
- Jordan — 19.7%
- Libya — 7.9%
Second consecutive year at the top
With deliveries of 10.9 million tonnes to third countries, Romania was the largest grain exporter in the European Union in 2025/2026 for the second year running, ranking first among member states in both common wheat and maize. Commission data cited by Economica.net show shipments more than 30% above the previous year, including over 7.2 million tonnes of common wheat — 31% of the total traded by all member states.
Economica.net also points to a USDA assessment for 2026/2027 under which Romania is positioned to become the European Union's largest wheat exporter. The first ten weeks are consistent with that outlook, although the concentration of demand in a small group of Middle Eastern and North African buyers leaves shipment volumes dependent on purchasing decisions in those markets.
