Romania: Top 30 Farmers Account for 90% of Beef Cattle Business
A Romanian eats 6.1 kilograms of beef a year, five times less than pork (32.9 kilograms) and four times less than poultry (24.1 kilograms), the latest National Statistics Institute data show.
Beef cattle farming, a sector with more than 506 million lei (EUR111 million) revenue in 2017, relies on exports more than 70% as Romanians prefer pork and poultry.
“Export is the basis of profit in this sector. About 70% of Romania’s cattle are exported. Domestic consumption is low. Romanians hardly eat beef,” said Mary Pana, chairperson of the Romanian association of cattle, sheep and swine farmers and exporters ACEBOP.
“They traditionally eat a lot of pork. I don’t think that’s because beef is more expensive. If we thought price is the main criterion, consumption of poultry should be the highest but it is not.”
The top 30 cattle farmers account for about 90% of the beef cattle business. The largest is Dutch-held Dutch Trading, followed by Romanian-owned Mimagi and ITL Agrocomplex, National Trade Registry Office data show.
Source: ZFEnglish2018
