Rice – Impact Of Coupled Support On The Romanian Market

Rice is one of the three main crops worldwide next to wheat and maize. Although rice is not a staple food or a main crop in Europe, it is an important crop in socio-cultural and ecological terms in several European countries. Romania is one of the small rice producers in the European Union, and rice growing is supported through agricultural policies, production being regulated through the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, through financial incentives for production. Rice supply in Romania is mostly based on imports, and the domestic production covers only a small part of supply. To support domestic rice production in the year 2015, the coupled support for the rice crop was established. The paper presents the main evolutions of the rice market in the period 2007–2017, focusing on the effects of coupled support on areas, production and yields, exports. The results reveal the decrease of areas under rice, after setting up the coupled support, with effect upon total production, yet with a strongly increasing trend in yields, as a result of investments in technology, storage facilities, drying and primary processing; in the year 2018, the average yields per hectare were the highest since 1990, in Romania.