Romanian livestock sector slowly picks up
The Romanian livestock sector has been on a downward trend in general for quite some time. Now statistics show encouraging developments, although the still massive imports of pork meat and piglets, as well as growing imports of raw milk are signalling that much work still needs to be done to balance these sub-sectors.
Dairy sector on an upward path
According to recently published data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the amount of cow milk collected by processing units on the domestic market increased by 4.6% last year compared to 2023, while at the same time Romania imported 38.7% more raw milk. More precisely, the amount of raw milk collected domestically was 1.26 million tonnes last year, while the volume of raw milk imported by processing units reached 159,812 tonnes.
Dairy production recorded an increase across all components during the mentioned period, including drinking milk, sour cream, fermented milk, cheese and especially butter (up 9%). Cheese production, total stood at 109,655 tonnes, 7.42% higher than in 2023, most of which (101,729 tonnes) was made out of cow milk.
In the last month of the year, compared to November, the highest production increase was recorded in butter (+27.9%), while the largest production decrease occurred in fermented milk products (yogurt, drinking yogurt, buttermilk, and other similar dairy products), with a decrease of 8.0%. Also the amount of raw milk imported by processing units decreased in December 2024 by 7.6% compared to the previous month.
Romania's meat production increased in 2024
Last year, Romania's meat production has increased for all animal species, according to the official statistics released recently by INS in mid-February.
The number of slaughters increased in pigs, sheep and goats and poultry, and decreased in cattle in 2024 compared to the previous year, while carcass weight (meat production) increased for all animal species.
Compared to December 2023, in December 2024 the number of slaughters and carcass weight increased in pigs and poultry, and decreased in cattle, sheep and goats.
As for the slaughter of sheep and goats, INS December 2024 data show a decrease of 1.9% from December 2023, to 311,000 head, with the weight in the carcass being also 1.8% lower (4,570 tonnes). However, slaughters in 2024 increased by 11.7% to 6.937 million heads, and carcass weight rose by 36.1% to 83,198 tonnes. It should be noted that this sector was affected by the Peste des Petits Ruminants last year.
Plans for future growth
Minister of Agriculture Florin Barbu has stated that Romania's livestock sector will benefit from major investments of in the coming years. "We need 8.7 million pigs. And we have RON 2.8 billion lei (€560 million) earmarked for 2025 and 2026 to produce 2.8 million piglets, including for fattening pigs in Romania. We will develop these farms […]. As of this year we are producing another 1.5 million piglets, so by the end of 2026 we should have 5 million pigs in Romania, from (the current) 3.2 million pigs. These measures will reduce imports, and in no more than four years we could reach a zero trade balance on pork. Romania can also be 100% self-sufficient in pork," said Florin Barbu.
"We are 160% self-sufficient in chicken and 500% self-sufficient in sheep. We don't really eat much sheep meat and that's why we export: 22% of sheep meat consumption in the European Union comes from Romania […]. The beef herd has tripled, we are on the increase, but Romania is not used to beef," added the Agriculture Minister.
He also said that Romania needs some additional 50,000 heifers to cover domestic milk consumption. "We have 1.4 million cows in the country, but their yield is low, 5 to 10 liters per head.” So there are plans to strengthen the dairy sector, next to the pig sector. According to the Minister, all the genetic material, the breeding stock, will be purchased from Europe, ideally through the available EU funds already allocated to Romania, while the construction of the farms will be supported from the state budget.
These are ambitious plans meant to revive the agricultural sector - an important sector for the Romanian economy as a whole and obviously for food security. These plans add to already publicly announced support plans for the food processing sector, as Romania is a large exporter of raw materials and a large importer of processed food. The recently published data on Romania’s foreign trade in 2024 showed a huge trade deficit in agrifood products, of €4.8 billion, 50% higher than in 2023.