STUDY CONCERNING THE TRENDS IN PORK MARKET IN ROMANIA
Agatha Popescu
Abstract
The paper aimed to identify the trends in the Romanian pork market based on the statistical data concerning pig stock, number of farms, meat production, consumption and consumer price, pork foreign trade during the period 2003-2008. The number of pigs increased by 19.78 % from 5,145 thousand heads in 2003 to 6,163 thousand heads in the year 2008. The number of pig farms decreased by 36 % in the year 2007 existing 1,697,975 pig holdings. The pig average live-weight at slaughter diminished from 111 kg to 108 kg in the analyzed interval. Total pork production increased from 516 thousand tons in 2003 to 605 thousand tons in 2008. In 2008, pork consumption was 34 kg/capita, representing about 50 % of total meat consumption, 68 kg/year. Pork exports in carcass equivalent have stagnated at 0.4 thousand tons, while imports increased from 98.2 thousand tons in 2003 to 187.3 thousand tons in 2008, characterizing Romania as a net importer. The increased pork consumption by 10 % in average per year should determine producers to extend production and correlate demand and supply in the domestic market.
