This document provides information about agriculture and soybean production in Romania: - Romania has a population of over 21 million people and agricultural land makes up 13.5 million hectares. Soybean production areas are located primarily in western, central, and eastern Romania. - Soybean production has fluctuated over time, with a harvested area of 69,755 hectares in 2011 yielding 149,940 tonnes. Soybean meal and soybeans are major imports, valued at over 130 million euros annually. - Soybean varieties grown must be listed in the Romanian official catalog, though some commercial varieties are also grown. Research is conducted at the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute in Fundulea and the Agricultural Research

1. REPORT:
COUNTRY
ROMANIA
International Soya Symposium 2012
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012

2. AGRICULTURE in ROMANIA
POPULATION Land
• Total population : 21.388.000 • Country area: 23.839.000 Ha
• Urban population : 12.535.000 • Agricultural land: 13.523.000 Ha
• Rural population: 8.853.000 • Arable land: 8.789.000 Ha
• Agricultural population: 1.618.000 • Temporary crops: 7.058.000 Ha
(as of 2011)
• Permanent crops: 362.000 Ha
CROPS • Total area equipped for irrigation: 3.157.000 Ha
• Functional irrigation : 750.000 Ha
• Cereals: 5.016.851 Ha / 16.710.258 to
• Agricultural area irrigated: 296.000 Ha
• Maize: 2.094.250 Ha / 9.042.030 to (as of 2011)
• Sunflower: 786.058 Ha / 1.262.930 to
• Rapeseed: 527.175 Ha / 943.033 to FARM STRUCTURE
• Soybeans: 63.424 Ha / 149.940 to • Family Holdings: 3.856.000
• Potato: 243.000 Ha / 4.113.000 to • Legal entities: 20.603
• Grapes: 176.000 Ha / 880.000 to • Farm associations: 1.018
(as of 2010)
• Companies: 12.466
Sources:
http://faostat3.fao.org, http://www.madr.ro,
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, http://www.insse.ro,
• Other legal structure: 7.119
(as of 2011)
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu,
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 2

3. SOYBEANS CROPPING AREAS
Timis plain
Caras plain
West Romania
Mures plain
West part of Cris and Somes plains
Mures valley
VERY FAVORABLE AREAS
Tarnava valley
Central Romania
Blaj-Turda plain
Cibin hollow (Sibiu-Sebes)
Bahlui and Jijia hollow
East Romania
Siret valley
Romana plain (black soil)
FAVORABLE AREAS South Romania
East Dobrogea
North Oltenia
LESS FAVORABLE AREAS South Romania North Muntenia
East Baragan
Soybeans acreage in 2011: 69.755 Ha
Cost of production non-irrigated: 375 – 475 €/Ha Contracted for irrigation in 2011: 15.878 Ha
Acreage irrigated in 2011: 10.947 ha (15,70%)
Cost of production irrigated: 550 – 650 €/Ha
Source: http://www.madr.ro
3
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012

4. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
Stubble control: 1-2 days after harvesting previous crop by disk
plough, stubble mulch cultivator or other similar implements. The
purpose is to save water due evaporation from compacted soil and
Plowing: is performed immediately after stubble plowed under. It improves
to prevent clod forming during plowing. Water seeps easier to the soil structure, increases porosity, aeration and water holding capacity of the
cultivated soil, crop residues are incorporated in the soil and soil. Plowing depth is 25-28 cm. Depending on soil water content and the
increased weeding effect of the tillage. amount of previous crop residues. It is important to have a very uniform
plowing. Harrowing several times until winter starts is important for weed
control. In dry conditions a disk harrowing at 7-11 cm is applied after under-
Seedbed preparation: Spike-toothed harrowing early spring is
plowing stubbles. Than the plowing is executed after a rainfall wetting the
recommended for crust and weed control and land leveling. After
soil to 20-25 cm depth.
2-3 weeks disk harrowing or cultivator plus spike-tooth harrow for
weed control is executed together with herbicide application
Sowing: starts when soil temperature at sowing depth is 7-8°C (14-15°C air)
against gramineae species. The combinator (not deeper than 5 cm)
and the weather trend is warming. Soybean sowing is in the same time with
is used for seedbed preparation a day before sowing.
maize sowing. For rained fields recommended seeding rate is 45-50
germinable seeds/m2 (for irrigated fields: 50-55 germinable seeds/m2).
Weed control: during germination period crust formation and
Seed quantity is 70-100 kg/ha. Sowing depth is 2,5 – 3,5 cm. For heavy soils
weeds are controlled using spike-tooth harrowing. When the
and 2,5 - 4 cm for medium texture soils. The spacing between rows is 50 cm.
soybean plants reach the stage of first leave spring-tine cultivator
An alternative is sowing in strips: 3 rows at 45 cm and 6 0-70 cm between
is used for weed control. 1-2 more spring-tine cultivator works are
strips.
executed: one before the first hoeing, the second in the time
interval between first and second hoeing. First hoeing is executed
Fertilization: Soybean plants need soil nitrogen in first 25-35 days from the
at 6-8 cm depth when plant rows are visible. 2-3 more hoeing are
start of vegetation until the symbiosis with Bradyrhizobium japonicum. After
executed depending on weeding, the last hoeing is before
this moment up to 80% of the crop Nitrogen demand is supplied by fixing the
flowering. A large spectrum of herbicides is used for weed control
atmospheric nitrogen. The critical phenological phase regarding the Nitrogen
before and after emergence.
stress is 2 weeks before flowering. Therefore, 30-40 kg/ha nitrogen is applied
before sowing. Then, depending on the number of Nitrogen-fixing knots 0-70
Irrigation: is applied in the period between flowering and grain
kg/ha, Nitrogen is applied at hoeing. Phosphorus fertilizer is applied before
filling. First irrigation is at flowering followed b 3-4 irrigations
plowing. For a good Nitrogen fixing capacity the soybean seeds are treated
separated by 10-14 days. On soils with good or moderate
with bio-products with Bradyrhizobium japonicum.
permeability the application rate is 700-800 m3/ha; on soils with
low or very high permeability: 400-500 m3/ha. In dry spring a first
irrigation after sowing is recommended (200-300 m3/ha). Crop rotation: Soybean is cultivated after winter wheat, winter barley. In
wetter regions soybean is cultivated after sugar beet, too.
Soybean is not cultivated after sunflower or rape.
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 4

5. SOYBEANS REGISTERED AND COMMERCIAL VARIETIES
SEED PRODUCTION
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Ha Tonnes Ha Tonnes Ha Tonnes Ha Tonnes Ha Tonnes
1674,66 5262,5 1604,78 4719,7 2304,58 6806,8 1748,25 4824,72 1242,69 3891
VARIETIES LISTED IN THE ROMANIAN OFFICIAL CATALOGUE 2012
Variety Maturity Maintainer
VARIETIES MARKETED BUT NOT LISTED 1 Balkan I Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
IN THE ROMANIAN OFFICIAL CATALOGUE 2012 2 Bolyi OO Saatzucht Quedlinburg GmbH, Germany
Variety Maturity Seed Company 3 Crina F I Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
1 PR91M10 OO 4 Cristina TD OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
2 PR92B63 O Pioneer 5 Columna OO Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
3 PR92M22 O 6 Daciana OO Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
4 FASTO CS I 7 Danubiana I Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
Caussade Semences 8 Darina TD OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
5 BANJO CS I
6 CONDOR II Quality Crops 9 Eugen OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
10 Felix OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
Probstdorfer
7 SIGALIA OO 11 Galina I Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
Saatzucht
12 Isidor I Euralis Semences SA, France
13 Mălina TD OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
Soybeans Research in Romania
14 Neoplanta OO Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
15 NS Mercury I Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
1. Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare 16 NS Rubin I Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
in Agricultura Fundulea 17 NS Trijumf OO Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
(National Agricultural Research&Development 18 Oana F OO Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
Institute Fundulea) 19 Onix OO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
located in South Romania, 35 Km East Bucharest 20 Perla OOO Statiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Turda, Romania
21 Proteinka O Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
2. Statiunea de Cercetare–Dezvoltare Agricola Turda 22 PS1012 I SC Procera Agrochemicals România SRL, Romania
(Agricultural Research&Development Station Turda) 23 PS1020 I SC Procera Agrochemicals România SRL, Romania
located in Central Romania 24 Romanesc 99 OO Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
25 SG Eider I SG CERESCO Inc, Canada
Sources:
26 Triumf I Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania
www.amsem.ro, http://istis.ro,
www.incs.ro, http://www.madr.ro, 27 Venerra II Institute of Field and Vegetable Crop Novi Sad, Serbia
www.incda-fundulea.ro, www.scdaturda.ro 28 Vigo I SC ITC SRL, Romania
29 SGSR Picor OO SG CERESCO Inc, Canada
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 5

6. SOYBEANS PRODUCTION
Area Harvested
(Ha)
600000
512200
500000
413600
400000 358600
309600
300000 Yield
(Kg/Ha)
177481
200000
122224 130752 3000
112243 2659
69755
100000 63424 71000 2392 2364
4613548249 2500
2100
1943 1963 2000
0 2000 1840 1747
1986 1987 1988 1989 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1500 1229
1007
Production
(tonnes) 1000 713
593
400000 380400
361200 344909 500
350000 312781
295100 303900 298506
0
300000
1986 1987 1988 1989 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
250000 224900
200000 146486
149940 142000
150000
90579 84268
100000
50000 Sources:
http://faostat3.fao.org, http://www.madr.ro,
0 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, http://www.insse.ro,
1986 1987 1988 1989 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu,
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 6

7. SOY PRODUCTS TRADE
• Annual soybean consumption: 600.000 tones
• Soybeans and soya meal imports in 2011: > 130 Mio € Soybean meal is one of the top five imported
commodities, Brazil (346.000 to) and Argentina
• 32.617 to of soybeans, value of 12,5Mio € (82.000 to) being the major suppliers
• 3.500 to of soybean oil, value of 2,5 Mio € In 2011, US has not been a soybean meal
supplier for Romania
• 357.656 to of soy cake/meal, value of 117,5 Mio €
The soybeans quantity exports almost doubled
• Exports: 36 Mio € (mainly soybean grains) Soybean meal imports are projected to remain
• Selling price: 400 – 450 €/to (as of 2012) stable in 2012
• Selling price organic: 700 - 800 €/to (as of 2012) Soybean imports
(tonnes)
407.102 357.656
450.000
374.046
400.000
350.000
300.000
250.000
200.000
150.000
100.000
18.526 15.739 32.617
50.000
0
2009 2010 2011
Soybeans import Soybean meal import
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 7

8. SOYBEANS TRADE STRUCTURE
Total cereals storage capacity: 20.000.000 to
Main traders (storage): Main processors:
• EXPUR (380.000 to/year)
• CARGILL (500.000 to)
• BUNGE ROMANIA (N/A)
• ALFRED TOEPFER (300.000 to) • PRIO EXTRACTIE (316.000 to/y)
• CARGILL OILS (N/A)
• AMEROPA (593.000 to)
• ULVEX (54.000 to/y)
• AGRICOVER (600.000 to)
• ARGUS (N/A)
• CEREALCOM DOLJ (100.000 to) • UNILEVER SOUTH CENTRAL (N/A)
• ORKLA FOODS (N/A)
• NIDERA (N/A)
• ARDEALUL (N/A)
• GLENCORE PROTEIN (N/A)
• PRUTUL (150.000 to/y)
• BUNGE ROMANIA (N/A) • ULEROM (60.000 to/y)
Source: www.forbes.ro
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 8

9. BIOTECH POLICY
Romania transposed the Directive 2001/18 regarding the
deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified
organisms through Emergency Ordinance 43/2007 (Law
247/2009) and Directive 90/219 referring to contained use of
genetically-modified micro-organisms through Emergency Regulatory Authorities
Ordinance 44/2007. • Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF) - coordinates
Other legislation was passed prior to accession in accordance with and ensures the application of precautionary principle to
the country’s EU accession commitments, specifically related to avoid potential adverse effects of GMOs on human health
traceability and labeling of food products derived from GMO, and environment as a result of obtaining, using and
commercializing these organisms
which are Government Decision 173/2006 transposing Regulation
EC No 1830/2003, replaced in March 2012 by Order 61/2012, and • National Agency for Environment Protection (NAEP) is the
Government Decision 256/2006 transposing Regulation EC No. Competent Authority (CA)
1829/2003. • National Environmental Guard (NEG) is the control authority
ensuring the right enforcement of the provisions of Directive
Order no. 55 regarding the national registry for records on genetic 2001/18
modifications issued in 2007 by the Ministry of Environment and
• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the
Forests (MEF) is still valid.
Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety National Authority
Government Decision 497/2007 transposed the EC Regulation (ANSVSA), and the Ministry of Public Health (MPH) are also
1946/2003 on trans-boundary movements of genetically modified involved in implementing the Directive 2001/18
organisms.
Order 237/2006 concerning the authorization of the biotech crops Biosafety Commission
cultivators was recently replaced by Order 61/2012. The new Since 2002 the Biosafety Commission has existed in Romania as
order approved by the Ministry of Agriculture provides rules for a scientific body with consultative role in assisting the
the authorization and control of the biotech crop farmers as well authorities in the decision-making process regarding the
as measures for ensuring the co-existence of biotech plants with issuance of authorizations.
conventional and organic. The public register concerning the In 2008, the Ministry of Environment issued Order 98, setting
commercial biotech fields, available on the website of Ministry of the main responsibilities of the Biosafety Commission, including
Agriculture and Rural Development, is updated every year with the list of members.
the following data about the farmers and the biotech seeds.
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 9

10. Traceability BIOTECH POLICY (cont)
According to Order 61/2012 all operators along the commercial chain
must transmit and retain information about products that contain or are
produced from GMOs at each stage of placing them on the market. The
regulation covers all products, including food and feed, containing or Enforcement
being derived from authorized GMOs. Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF) – through the National
Farmers planting biotech crops can only use certified seed - label or Environmental Guard (NEG), as NEG is in charge with enforcing the
document stating “genetically modified seeds” as well as the biotech whole package of environmental protection legislation via inspection
product unique identifier code. and control.
Seeds suppliers prepare yearly an annual register for biotech seeds Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has official
containing information regarding the names and coordinates of the inspection and control capacity have responsibilities related to GMOs,
farmers, the amount of seeds and crop location. such as the Division for Agricultural Policies Implementation - with roles
Upon sowing completion, within 7 working days, the farmers must in authorizing local GMO plantings and in gathering information about
report to the county office of MADR facts on planted area, seeds source biotech farmers and the National Inspection for Seed Quality and the
and the varieties/hybrids used. Upon harvesting completion, within 7 State Institute for Variety Trials and Registration (ISTIS) that investigates
working days of each month, farmers must submit to the county office from the technical point of view the varieties for which requests have
of MADR data on production obtained and its purpose. been made to be registered in the Variety Register and the Official
When delivering the GM products further on the commercial chain, Variety Catalogue.
farmers have to clearly specify on the accompanying documents and Veterinary and Food Safety National Authority (ANSVSA) is involved in
labels, the GM product unique identifier and the statement “this endorsing approvals for GM products from the perspective of assessing
product contains genetically modified organisms.” potential risks to human and animal health and exerting control
regarding the enforcement of food and feed traceability requirements.
Labeling National Authority for Consumer Protection (NACP) verifies the
enforcement of food product labeling requirements in order to ensure
National legislation concerning GM labeling was brought in line with the that correct, complete, and accurate information is provided to
EU requirements (Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003) through GOR Decision consumers, including products containing or consisting of GMOs.
No. 173/2006, which was repealed in 2012 through Order 61 issued by
Several laboratories are operational and able to perform tests for GMOs
the Ministry of Agriculture. Romania adopted measures on thresholds
detection. The National Reference Laboratory for GM food and feed is
for labeling, set at 0.9% for an adventitious presence of an authorized
the Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health (IDAH) with the
GM in food or feed. Animal feed produced from GM crops is required to
Molecular Biology and GMO Unit. The Institute of Food Bioresources
be labeled, according to GOR Decision 256/2006. Meat, milk or eggs
(IBA) is responsible for official control analysis of GMOs in seeds. The
obtained from animals fed with GM feed or treated with GM medicinal
National Research and Development Institute for Biotechnologies is in
products do not require GM labeling.
charge with official control analysis of GMOs in feed.
Dragos Dima, Vienna, 5-6 September 2012 International Soya Symposium 2012 10

11. END OF PRESENTATION
VIELEN DANK FÜR IHRE AUFMERKSAMKEIT
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
For additional information, please contact me:
Mobile: (004) 0744 355 787
E-mail: ddima@msat.ro