According to data sent to HotNews by the National Institute of Statistics, Romania spent billions of euros on meat imports last year. The most imported pork and chicken, as well as beef.

We export only 1.1 kg of meat and meat products per person, and import 18.4 kg

Available for average human consumption per person, estimated at 74.3 kg, 27.6% is achieved through imports (net contribution of exports). We have a deficit per person of 20.5 kg/person, explains the head of INS Tudorel Andrii in the work recently published by the Academy publishing house “Foreign trade of Romania in agro-food products 1990-2020”.

The situation with pork is completely unsatisfactory. Surprisingly, for a country with traditions in this zootechnical sector, the average human consumption of about 38 kg per person is covered by 45% of the surplus of imports, which is provided by exports.

As for pork, on average only 1.1 kg per person is exported and 18.4 kg is imported, resulting in a deficit of 17.3 kg per person.

“We wonder how long such a negative situation can last for a product that has a tradition in our country,” says the head of statistics.

We remind you that due to the decrease in the number of animals over the last 30 years, Romania is no longer at the world or European level among countries with an important production of meat obtained by slaughtering animals.

Among the 20 largest meat-producing countries in the world, we also find five countries of the European Union: Germany with a production of 8.2 million tons of carcasses, which corresponds to a production of almost 100 kg per inhabitant, Spain with 7 million tons with an average of per capita 150 kg, France with production of 5.6 million tons – 86 kg/person, Poland with production of 4.5 million tons – 116 kg/person and Italy with production in 2018 of 3.7 million tons – 61 kg/woman. Romania produces slightly more than 1 million tons of meat, which is equivalent to 52 kg per inhabitant

Only 10% of what you can find in stores is locally sourced pork

The largest countries from which we import chicken meat:

According to an independent study conducted by a group of researchers at ASE for a major retailer, only 10% of what can be found in stores is locally sourced pork.

At the market level, there is a commercial deficit of 25% of processed food products (pork is the main component, causing an 830 million euro annual deficit).

The main problem: the mobility of animals that end up being sold at fairs even though they do not meet the quality criteria for sale

In 2016, 4.6 million pigs were slaughtered in Romania, and in 2022 only 3 million. This is just one of the consequences of the African swine fever epidemic. To stop swine fever, 1.6 million pigs were lost, including 100,000 sows from the herd, more than half of the herd.

The largest countries from which we import pork:

Overcoming swine fever remains crucial for stability, confidence and increased investor interest in the sector. One of the possible reasons for the occurrence of swine fever is non-compliance with biosecurity rules when raising pigs on family farms.

The main problem is the mobility of animals that end up being sold at fairs, even though they do not meet the quality criteria for sale.

In addition, small slaughterhouses play a significant negative role in the spread of swine fever due to the problem of workers who do not comply with sanitary and veterinary conditions and therefore sanitary-veterinary measures should be aimed primarily at these categories, according to the ASE study.

The largest countries from which we import chicken meat and organs:

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