Romania’s 2010 Wheat Output Nearly Compromised By Heavy Rainfall

„Because of rains during the past weeks, output will drop this year. It’ll be a disaster,” Sitaru said, adding wheat crops in the south and east of the country could not be harvested because of rain.

„Lat year, we had a wheat output of about 3,000 kilograms per hectare. For this year, initial estimates were at 4,000 kilograms but we’d be left with half of that if the rain stopped now,” Sitaru said, adding output may be entirely compromised if rainfalls continue.

Sitaru also said rapeseed crops have been affected too and could not be harvested because of high humidity, while barley crops have been entirely compromised in some areas.

„This drastic drop in output will lead to numerous bankruptcies. The alternative is to import cereal, and everything will be pricier this year if we look at the evolution of the leu-euro exchange rate,” he said.

The Romanian currency has hit a fresh all-time low against the euro Tuesday, when the central bank computed an indicative rate of 4.3523 units to the euro.

Romania has been severely hit by floods, which left 18 people dead, thousands stranded and damaged homes, farmland and pastures and weather authorities have extended heavy rainfall advisories in northern, northeastern and part of central Romania until Wednesday morning.