The possibility to reach meat self-sufficiency in Romania in the long term

Meat production is crucial for reaching the self-sufficiency targets for the important agricultural products from the perspective of Romania's food security, as defined by a recent national strategy. Taking into consideration the difficult situation of the European pork market in 2015 and 2016, which has aggravated the old problems of the pig farming sector in Romania, it is expected that the investment support measures and instruments will not be effective in the short term. The poultry farming sector is the main vector to reach self-sufficiency in meat by the year 2035, having technical performances comparable to those of the most efficient producers in the EU, yet slightly disadvantaged by the weaknesses of the domestic poultry market, i.e. consumers' preferences for cheap, low quality products. With a smaller share in total meat consumption nationwide, beef can contribute to reaching the self-sufficiency target in the future, both through production increase and through production quality improvement, which will also put into value the export potential of this product.