THE MEAT MARKET SECTOR IN ROMANIA, CURRENT SITUATION AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Breeding animals and selling meat are traditional activities in Romania, having a special importance for the economy and the consumption of the population. This present paper is a research on the meat market sector in Romania, in the last years. In Romania, this sector has certain deficiencies, both at the level of production and processing and marketing. Now, the meat processing industry is disadvantaged in the market economy by the outdated and non-performing technology, the low level of long-term investments, and the lack of a payment system depending on the quality of the carcasses. The paper presents meat production by category, as well as its import and export. According to the data provided by Eurostat, Romania has become the largest net importer of pork in Central Europe and the Balkans, pork being the most deficient food product in Romania.