Romania key figures

In 2022 Romania was the 4th largest producer of wheat and the second largest producer of sunflower. It had the third largest maize production and the eighth largest potato production. Romania was the fourth largest producer of rapeseed and the fourth largest producer of soya.

Turnover of agricultural companies recorded the second highest nominal annual growth in the last 10 years, of more than 8 billion lei, reaching an all-time high of 68 billion lei in 2022, 48% higher than in 2018.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics show that in 2022 total imports were 126 billion euros and exports – over 90 billion euros.

Romania imported more than 770 million euros worth of agricultural and food products from Italy in 2022, up 21.5% on the previous year, especially dairy products and cheeses, while Romanian exports to the Italian market exceeded 1 billion euros, up 25% on 2021, according to data from the Italian Foreign Trade Agency.

Sales in the F&B serving activities rose in most of the EU Member States in 2021. However, the highest sales growth for F&B serving activities was recorded in Romania – rose by 57.4 %.

Households in Romania ranked first in the European Union in 2022 in terms of the share of food and non-alcoholic beverages in total consumer expenditure, according to data published Thursday by Eurostat. While the EU average is almost 15%, households in Romania spent 25% of their total consumption expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages last year. In 2022, spending on ‘restaurants and hotels’ increased in volume by 33.8%, on ‘recreation and culture’ by 14.7%, on ‘clothing and footwear’ by 11.5%, and on transport by 4.7%.

There were almost 76 thousand restaurants in Romania in May 2023. Bucuresti had by far the biggest number of restaurants, accounting for approximately 11 percent of all restaurants in the country. It was followed by Cluj and Constanta with 4,700 and 3,197 restaurants, respectively.

The net result (net profit minus net loss) of FMCG distributors in retail and HORECA increased by 48% compared to 2021 and by 137% compared to 2018, to the record level of 867 million lei in 2022.

Regarding the evolution of profitability in HoReCa in 2024, 39.8% of leaders expect the hospitality industry to maintain its current margins. 30.4% expect a slight increase in profitability. 15.2% of respondents say that investment in marketing and advertising is their main strategy to remain competitive in 2024.