February 10 (SeeNews) - Romania and Bulgaria were among the largest cereal grains exporters in 2021 out of the 13 states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) region, which recorded a 22.9% year-on-year jump in total exports to an all-time high of $29.3 billion (27.3 billion euro), the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank said.
Romania and Bulgaria were preceded only by Ukraine, which earned $11.8 billion in cereal exports in 2021, followed by Russia, with exports of $9.2 billion, the BSTDB said in a report published on Thursday.
You can download the 2023 Agriculture industry in Southeast Europe report here
The BSEC region, which also comprises Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, accounted for about one-fifth of world’s production of wheat, barley, rye and oats as well as 19.2% of global cereal exports in 2021, according to the report.
As the main cereal export by BSEC countries in the monitored year, wheat contributed to exports of $16 billion, followed by maize with $9.9 billion and barley with $2.9 billion.
Among the BSEC member states, six were net exporters of cereals, namely Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Moldova. Moldova's cereal exports had a share of 11.7% of its total exports, second only to Ukraine in the review year. For Romania and Bulgaria, cereal exports were also significant, with respective shares of 4.9% and 4.8% of total exports in 2021.
The remaining seven countries were net importers, although the need for imported grains was found to be relatively low in the region. Total cereal imports in 2021 amounted to $6.9 billion or just 0.2% of the region's combined GDP.
In terms of output, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey together accounted for 16.3% of global wheat output in 2021, or 125.8 million t altogether, followed by Romania and Bulgaria with shares of 1.4% and 1%, or 10.4 million t and 7.3 million t, respectively. Regarding maize production, the BSEC region also led globally, with a share of 7.7% of global output in the review year. Ukraine was the largest producer, contributing 3.5% of the global output, followed by Russia with a 1.3% share, Romania with 1.2%, Turkey with 0.6%, and Serbia with 0.5%.
Global wheat production is forecast to rise by an annual 0.4% to 782.7 million t in the marketing year 2022-2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. It is expected to surge by over a fifth in Russia and grow 7.8% in Turkey, while Ukraine's output is projected to fall around 38%.
"This is expected to reduce the supply of wheat from Ukraine to the international market in 2023, resulting in upward pressures on global prices. Nevertheless, Ukraine is forecast to retain its position as the ninth-largest wheat producer in MY 2022-2023," BSTDB said.
($ = 0.9326 euro)