♦ The basic raw material is milk, and Romania also imports raw milk for processing, about 50%, because domestic production is not sufficient, and the direct import of butter is sometimes more advantageous from the point of view of costs ♦ Poland, Romania's main supplier of butter, starts from a smaller agricultural base than ours. Currently, Poland raises 6.2 million cows, and Romania only 1.8 million, that is, three times less.
Each Romanian consumes 1.7 kg of butter annually, i.e. 8.5 packages of 200 grams, the most common form in commerce. From the total consumption of the population, Romania manages to have a degree of self-sufficiency of 36%, according to the data of the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, the essential butter on the breakfast bread or on the basis of the omelette comes largely from imports. Romania's butter production is 12,000 tons, and imports are double, over 22,000 tons. Why? «We produce butter only from Romanian milk, even if we have higher costs and the price is higher on the shelf. However, we are present in retail and have a good demand. There are several explanations for the lack of domestic production. In recent years, butter was brought from outside the country because it was cheaper. In addition, we have never been a large producer of butter, and Romania has always imported large quantities. Imported butter is reprocessed and repackaged. Generally, it comes in blocks, in large imported moulds, and very little comes already packed in small weights», explained Mircea Todoran, co-founder of the Mirdatod Prod company from Mureş County, which owns the Ibăneşti dairy brand.
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