THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR OF ROMANIA
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR OF ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: This scientific article is based on the information from the Romanian National Statistics Institute (NSI) which conducted a statistical survey addressed to the managers of enterprises in manufacturing, construction, retail, and services regarding their perception of the prospect of the evolution of the activity of the enterprise they lead during the coronavirus pandemic. The results of the study highlight important aspects such as: the negative impact was higher in April, 2020, compared to the previous month. In the retail sector, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the volume of activity is close to the average for the entire economy, although statistical research was carried out before decisions on the closure of commercial establishments other than food or pharmacy. Thus, the share of economic operators who could not estimate the impact of the epidemic on the volume of activity increased from 20.7% in March to 32.6% in April 2020, reducing the share of economic operators who estimated a maintenance or an impact of up to 50% of the volume of activity. Among the economic operators in the sector that were able to estimate a development for the volume of activity in April 2020, a share of 21.6% envisaged the closure or restriction of the activity by more than 25% compared to 22.1% in March 2020. In the hotels and restaurant sector, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic was dominated by the same uncertainty in the estimation of future developments and the forecast for total business closure. Thus, of the total economic operators included in the statistical research, a share of 11.7% in March and 27.8% in April 2020 could not estimate the evolution of the volume of activity. The doubling of the share of economic operators with an uncertain view of business was mainly caused by the change in the vision of those who estimated either the closure of their business (a difference of 5.1 pp in April compared to March 2020) or a restriction of more than 50% in the volume of activity (difference of 6.1 pp in April compared to March 2020). Of the economic operators in the sector who were able to make an estimate of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the volume of activity in April, 95.4% foresaw a restriction of activity of more than 25% or closure, compared to 92.9% in March 2020. During this period, consumers all over Romania obviously changed their behaviour during the pandemic. Rising unemployment, staff working from home, people who avoided driving, restaurants and hotels closed by military ordinances adopted by the Romanian Government, children who stayed at home from school and the inadmissibility of frequent food purchases caused the alteration of many agro-food products, which caused significant damage to the owners. Under these conditions, demand also decreased because of greater uncertainty, increased cautionary behaviour, restraint efforts and increased financial costs that reduced the ability to spend. In view of these aspects, the authors of this article suggest some solutions to support agricultural producers. In this respect, in order to support agricultural producers and farmers in the next period, it is important to develop some storage facilities such as agricultural goods reception facilities, where agricultural producers can make use of their products without having to retail. Another measure would be to open up food markets in larger open areas, while ensuring appropriate infrastructure in order to maintain the consumer quality of products and taking into account the need to ensure the food safety of the population

• Details
• Contents