Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 4
Written by Agatha POPESCU

The paper aimed to analyze the trends in sheep and goat livestock, at national level and in the territory, animal density, milk and meat production, meat consumption, meat export, import and trade balance based on the empirical data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Eurostat Data base in the period 2007-2016. For 11,358 thousand sheep and goats in 2016, Romania comes on the 4th position in the EU after United Kingdom and Spain. Also, it is on the 5th position for sheep and goats density (85.5heads/100 ha) after Greece, United Kingdom, Spain and Netherlands. Sheep and goats are raised all over the country, but sheep are mainly grown in the Central area, NW, W, and SE, while goats are especially in SE, S West Oltenia, S Muntenia, and N E. In Romania the concentration of sheep and goats livestock in the territory is a moderate one, as confirmed by the Herfindhal-Hirschman and GiniStruck indices. In 2016, sheep and goat milk production accounted for 6,113 thousand hl in 2016, but only 6.95 % is collected by the industrial units, the remaining is destined to cover household needs. Sheep and goat meat production reached 182 thousand tonnes in 2015, reflecting a high growth rate (65 %) in the analyzed period. Sheep and goat meat is mainly produced in the SE, S Muntenia and W. Romania comes on the 10th position in the EU for sheep meat production after United Kingdom, Spain, France, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal. Romania is an net exporting country of sheep meat, as long as it has a surplus, and the domestic consumption is low. Romania has a high potential for producing more meat for the internal market and export. This requires the organization of sheep and goats raising associations specialized in young sheep males fattening, with a corresponding farm size to assure a high production and carcass quality. The national aids and coupled support help the breeders to develop meat and milk production in this sector.

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