Romania's rapeseed production for the 2024-2025 season will fall below the five-year average due to smaller planted areas, according to Argus estimates.

A drought period between August and November severely disrupted rapeseed sowing this season. Local farmers said during the Argus crop tour that they were forced to drastically reduce their planted areas, although some explored new methods of planting rapeseed, such as later sowing.

As a result, Argus estimates Romania's planted rapeseed area at 450,000 hectares (4,500 km²) for 2024-2025, down 30% from the previous season. But the potential rapeseed production is in line with the five-year average, around 2.6 t/ha.

At the same time, the dry and warm summer weather that has prevailed throughout Romania over the past five years has led farmers to reduce or abandon non-irrigated corn areas.