Romania gets ready for next accession
the culmination of a great deal of hard work. However in Romania
and Bulgaria, currently mooted for entry in 2007, most of that work
still lies ahead. Simon Pitman spoke to the Romanian Food
and Drink Association to find out where the country's industry is
at.
With a population of nearly 22 million, Romania's impact on the European Union would certainly not go unnoticed. Currently the country has a GDP of €48.4 million and growth rate of around 5 per cent. Although the country is clearly in the earlier stages of economic development compared to the new Member States in the first round of accession, it has enjoyed an increasing level of stability, with attempts to bring the runaway inflation, which peaked in 1998 at 60 per cent, now getting things under a far tighter control.
The total volume of pre-accession assistance available from the EU to Romania is substantial, coming in at around €700 million per year from the PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD schemes. This sum is equal to around 1.4 per cent of GDP, 4.4 per cent of consolidated budget revenues, or 36 per cent of investment expenditure from the national budget.
The food industry has been one of the sectors that has benefited the most from such assistance. "Preparations for accession are well in place for the food industry in Romania," said Costin Maruta, spokesperson for the Romanian Food and Drink Association. "We are very focused on meeting the requirements for EU legislation and right now we are working on a national level to implement food safety measures and HACCP systems throughout the industry. There are several EU funding bodies and a number of loans from the World Bank that have been used to help implement the new standards."
Maruta says that so far the work of the authorities in Romania has focused on the bakery, dairy and meat processing sectors, which, as a result, have already achieved higher health and safety levels than other sectors. The focus was now moving to upgrading standards in fruit and juice production together with the canned vegetables sector.
Meanwhile, as accession becomes increasingly likely for Romania, foreign investor interest is rising, says Maruta."A significant number of investments have already been made in the past couple of years. Manufacturers appear to be targeting specific sectors and so far meat, dairy, edible oils, wine, beer and confectionery have proved to be the most popular."
At the same time, a new breed of food and beverage companies is now starting to emerge in Romania, which Maruta says are more efficient and will be more competitive.
And what of the first round of accession? Is that expected to have any impact on the Romanian food and beverage industry?
"Food producers here are pleased by the prospect of the first round of accession because it means that it will eliminate unfavourable tariffs on food products which in the past have been upheld by many of the new Member State governments," Maruta said. "In the past this has led to a flood of cheap food and beverage products from the former CEFTA countries, which have in turn impacted sales for domestic producers."
