Romania heads for best harvest in five years but farmers see no profit
Romania's grain and oilseed output is forecast at 30.5 million tonnes in 2026, potentially the best in five years, but farmers say low prices leave them below break-even. Wheat and maize trade near 200 euros per tonne on Euronext while input costs climb, fuelling calls to shift from raw exports to processing.
Record harvest, thin margins
Romania is heading for one of its strongest crop years in half a decade, yet farmers say the good yields will not turn into profit. According to the business daily ZF, in its ZF Agropower programme of 13 July — a project supported by Banca Transilvania — the 2026 agricultural year looks favourable for most crops, from wheat and rapeseed to cucumbers and potatoes, except for parts of western Romania, Moldova and Dobrogea, where a lack of rain has cut output. Farmers in the dry areas estimate production 10–30% below average.
The country's grain and oilseed output is forecast at 30.5 million tonnes in 2026, according to COCERAL, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association — potentially the best harvest in five years. But strong volumes are colliding with weak prices, and growers say the numbers no longer add up.
Prices below break-even
On the pan-European Euronext exchange in Paris, wheat and maize are trading at an average of around 200 euros per tonne, 15–20% less than three years ago, while rapeseed fetches about 500 euros per tonne, some 15% above its 2023 level. Nicolaie Apopi, founder of Popagra and Agro Baden Banat, who farms more than 2,000 hectares in Timiș county, said barley and wheat prices are very low and that rapeseed is by far the most profitable crop — but a farm cannot rely on a single crop and must rotate to avoid disease and pests.
Maize economics are especially tight. High yields of over 10–12 tonnes per hectare mature late, in late September or early October, and must be harvested at 20–22% moisture, forcing costly drying because of high energy and gas prices. In the west, Apopi reported production down 10–30% on wheat and barley due to deep soil drought, with only 4 litres of rain in April and the May rains arriving after 14 May.
The case for processing
Input inflation is the common thread. Apopi cited nitrogen- and phosphorus-based fertilizers as the biggest cost, followed by fuel, saying he bought diesel at 8.99–9.10 lei per litre and that prices have not fallen back even as crude oil declined. The cost of borrowing has stayed high for three years, with an elevated ROBOR rate and wider lending margins, while landowners are pushing for higher rents.
Nicu Vasile of the League of Associations of Agricultural Producers in Romania (LAPAR) argued that the country's 30-year reliance on selling raw commodities has been damaging for the economy: high production costs meet low sale prices at the end. He said output must be integrated into a value chain. Vasile has already cut his maize area over the past three to four years, replacing it with fodder and malting barley, and hopes sunflower and rapeseed can improve his balance sheet.
The squeeze extends to vegetables. Ionuț Vochin, executive director of Oxigen Agro Product Company in Giurgiu, said vegetables are being produced despite climate challenges but that sale prices are too low for firms to be profitable, pointing to technologies largely unchanged for 50 to 100 years. His remedy is the same: farmer association and investment in processing capacity to cut losses and add value.
