Stone fruit growers in Romania had to endure some extreme weather conditions last week. The freezing temperatures lasted for five nights in a row, says Bogdan Baianu, CEO and co-founder of Romanian fresh produce exporter Cerasus Grup Romania: "For the past week, from Sunday the 6th of April until Friday the 11th of April, Romania has had to endure very low temperatures, from -5 degrees Celsius at night, to a maximum of 3 degrees Celsius during the day. Some parts of Romania even had temperatures of around -8 degrees Celsius. We've had these kinds of frosts before, but never continuously for five days. Naturally, the stress that the fruit trees endured was at a very high level, leaving a severe impact on stone fruits like cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums."
These freezing conditions have had a devastating effect on the stone fruit production in Romania, Baianu explains. "Looking at the peaches, nectarines, and apricots, I've heard that between 90 and 100 per cent of the crops have been wiped out. Our company mainly deals in cherries, and looking at this product specifically, the damage is estimated to be around 70 to 80 percent across Romania. As the country will have low production for cherries, the sizes of the cherries will be of a higher caliber this season. All orchards have various percentages when it comes to the damage, but all of them will have fewer fruits on the trees and larger sizes as a result. It's difficult to say what this will do to the prices, as there will be very little volumes to supply the markets."
© Cerasus Grup Romania
For Baianu's company specifically, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel, as their orchards have not been impacted as much, compared to the rest of the country: "Our company supplies major supermarkets in Romania and half of our fresh production goes to export in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy. We also are one of major suppliers of industry cherries that go to Italy. So the damage is around all of these products. Now the good news is we will have some product available still, as we are in the very north of Romania, one of the most northern orchards in the country. Fortunately, our production was not affected as much compared to the rest of the country. Don't get me wrong, we will still have one of the worst years in terms of volumes for any of our cherry seasons, but the damage is contained to about 60%."
As Baianu is part of a growers' association, he tries to help out getting all of the cherries to one market or another, he explains. "For us, the sizes are also expected to be larger this year. It's too early to say what we can do exactly, but we think we'll be able to supply the more premium product, thanks to our high-quality packaging and brand, to the markets that can pay for that. However, it's not just our own cherries we're able to supply. Although we have our own fields, we also represent a producer organisation in our area. This organisation consists of a lot of growers that grow both industry-quality cherries as well as premium-quality stone fruits. We try to show our support and try to integrate all of the available cherries to the market. This means we will try to accept all of their harvests, sort them properly, and find a market for them, as we believe there is always a market for any kind of cherry."
© Cerasus Grup Romania
The situation is severe for some of the stone fruit growers. Baianu emphasizes it could even bankrupt some of them if they do not receive financial aid: "The Romanian growers are in a scary predicament at the moment, and as an organisation we're trying to put some pressure on the government. We're asking them to help out these growers, as the current losses would be devastating for them if they don't receive any help from our Ministry. And this is serious, some growers would literally have to declare bankruptcy if they do not receive any form of help. Their fields have been destroyed to a point where production will not simply recover next season, more must be done. Maybe we can get the growers some help in terms of receiving government-guaranteed loans and subsidies, at least so they can move forward with something."
"The year 2025 shows us how much resilience in agriculture matters and how fragile a harvest can be in the face of unexpected weather. From Panere, we will do what we can to get as many of the Romanian cherries to the right destination across all of Europe this season. ," Baianu concludes.
For more information:
Bogdan Baianu
Cerasus Grup Romania ( Panere ®)
Tel: +40 740 025216
bogdan@panere.ro
https://panere.ro/en