Romania: milling and bakery market to reach 2 billion Euro

Bucharest / RO. (cn) The milling and bakery market in Romania will amount to two billion EUR this year, up 15 percent as compared to 2007, said Sorin Chelmu, Secretary General at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), at the third annual conference of IAOM Eurasia District. The representative of the Ministry also said that this growth is due to the constant investment pace. Chelmu added that funds of 80 billion EUR are allocated for the milling and bakery sector, under the National Programme for Rural Development. Bread consumption dropped by 1,5 kilograms in Romania this year, reaching 112 kilos per capita, said in early October Aurel Popescu, President of the Romanian Employers Association from the Milling and Bakery Industry. On the other hand, with the decrease in bread consumption, an increase in the confectionery products market was recorded. Popescu: «In 2008, the total consumption of grain products decreased by 0,2 percent. An increase was registered in pastry products, by twelve percent more compared to last year». Referring to the decrease in consumption, Popescu said to «Curierul National», that the trend is to place Romania in the European context, where average annual bread consumption is about 80 kilos per capita (bakenet:eu thinks that the consumption in average is less than 80 kilos …).