• The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia is causing many countries to analyze their agricultural production. Romania imports a large amount of sugar.
In the conditions in which the Ukraine-Russia war has grown in recent weeks, the two states being important producers and exporters of basic raw materials, there is increasing concern about ensuring domestic consumption needs, he writes Finance newspaper.
In Romania, three quarters of the sugar consumed comes from imports, and the factories we still have no longer have Romanian capital.
Annually, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Romania consumes about 400.000 tons of sugar, of which 100.000 tons from local production, 200.000 tons of refined sugar from sugar beet and sugar cane and about 100.000 tons of refined sugar from raw sugar gross from import.
Ensuring internal consumption needs
In this difficult time globally, many countries have decided to carefully analyze their agricultural production and adopt certain measures to ensure their domestic consumption needs. Thus, some countries have chosen to increase their production for certain goods, others to ban grain or food exports for a certain period, according to Mediafax. For example, the Commission for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Moldova decided to suspend wheat and sugar exports between March 1 and April 24, 2022.
Bogdan Belciu, consultant co-founder of We value Business Advisors states: "If with regard to sunflower oil, Romania is in a favorable position, the situation is different for other product categories, such as sugar, vegetables and fruits and pork, where production covers between 35% and 70% of consumption."
Sugar – produced in only two factories in Romania
After the closing of the sugar factory of the Tereos group in Mureș, Romania is left with only two sugar factories, while in 1990 there were 33 factories.
Bogdan Belciu points out that the decline in Romanian sugar production occurred simultaneously with the decrease in sugar beet production, but also due to the lower processing price for sugar from other sources, such as sugar cane.
According to data provided by the INS since 1990, the domestic production of sugar beet has decreased almost five times, from 3,27 million tons to 682.000 tons in 2020.
Russia is currently the largest sugar beet producer, but immediately after the Revolution, Romania produced as much sugar beet as Russia. In 2020, unfortunately, according to FAO data, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, our country ranked 31st globally.
Significant import of sugar
In the first 11 months of 2021, the dates INS shows that Romania paid about 100 million euros to import 212.000 tons of sugar from beet and cane, exporting only 13 million euros, i.e. 7,6 times less.
Currently, Romania no longer has a single sugar factory with Romanian capital, the two sugar producing factories, one in Neamț county and the other in Buzău county, being owned by the Austrian group Agrana.
Efforts are being made to reopen the Bod sugar factory, which was closed 3 years ago. The general manager of Best Acquisitions, the company that acquired 60% of the Bod Sugar Factory, Mihaela Neagu, announced that he met with several sugar beet growers to reopen the production unit in Brașov.
In the context of war, the processing of basic raw materials should become zero priority, according to food industry specialists, but it requires large investments and corresponding risks. Thus there are dozens of Romanian sugar processing factories that will never open their doors again.
In the next period, the needs of the domestic market will also be provided by imports.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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