Considerations on the Romanian International Trade with Agri-Food Products

The national food market depends on imports, although Romania has important natural resources favorable to agricultural production, which, properly exploited, could cover the domestic demand and would allow farmers to obtain some significant export benefits. Although the Romanian production of cereals has registered a significant increase over the last period, excessive exports of raw materials, overlaid on processed food imports, have led to a permanent increase in Romania's balance deficit during recent years. The paper proposes considerations over the domestic food production from the perspective of foreign trade with food, highlighting the main factors that have helped to cover the domestic demand from imports. The main imbalances encountered at national level are those from the fruit and vegetables, coffee and cocoa sectors, milk and dairy products, namely meat and meat products. The problems of the Romanian agricultural sector (excessive fragmentation of agricultural holdings, lack of qualified staff, reduced investments in the purchase and modernization of equipmens, lack of a functional irrigation sector), correlated with a decrease competitiveness of the local food industry, will further lead to the increase in Romania's dependence on imports. Applying certain viable strategies to support the agricultural sector, combined with measures to encourage the raw materials processing at national level and to increase indigenous food consumption, can lead to a decrease in imports and balancing the national trade balance on agri-food products. The perspectives of the national food sector are not encouraging, given the lack of effective national measures and the low reactivity of the domestic business environment.