Vineyards’ restructuring and conversion through national support programmes - the case of Romania

Wine industry is considered to be a traditional industry, where the potential for growth is still important for the existing wine producers and new entrants, based on strategies for increasing international awareness, technological innovation and financing program. The paper aims to explore the evolution of the determinants of wine and vineyards industry from a macroeconomic perspective, in order to assess the efficiency of the National Support Programmes, financed by the European Union. The exploration intends to cover the tendency of the following indicators: areas under vines, areas under vines for wines, wine producers, wine consumers, wine imports and wine exports, in order to explore new opportunities for growth and develop future orientation. Moreover, the analysis intends to address the importance of National Support Programmes 2009-2013; 2014-2018; 2019-2023, whose evolution is currently considered a key research question in the field. Romania is an important European country from the point of view of wine industry, the various wines it produces are known for their quality. With an area of around 180.000 ha cultivated with vines which, in 2016, represented 1,42% of its agricultural area and 2,28% of arable area, Romania ranks the 5th position in the European Union, after Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. However, the countries that took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programmes, were: Italy, Spain and France, which together spent more than 70% of the total amount for each of these programmes

A Critical Approach on Using Total Water Footprint of Agricultural Products as a Potential Sustainable Development Indicator

Measuring sustainable development represents a fundamental issue which requires a complex approach in identifying relevant indicators to capture the global transformations of the contemporary economic paradigm, within the context of increasing globalization and of the integration of markets and economies. The recent evolutions of the environmenta lanalysis enforced total water footprint as a highly popular and core environmental performance indicator.The paper presents a critical approach on using total water footprint of agricultural products as a potential sustainable development indicator from the EU perspective, by applying a specific research method on clustering and concentration. The results prove that total water footprint of the agricultural products is highly country-specific dependent. The uneven distribution shown by grouping of countries and types of agricultural products consumption confirm this argument

MARKETING RESEARCH ON WINE CONSUMERS PREFERENCES IN ROMANIA

The paper is based on a research that aimed to make some assumptions regarding wine consumer preferences in Romania. The research method was survey made through questionnaires administered to a relevant number of respondents. In order to establish the main goals of this research, we considered aspects as: identification of purchase and consume frequency of wine, the preferred consumer’s places for serving or buying wine, the average quantity of wine that is usually bought, the level of price accepted by the consumer, the type of wine preferred by consumer in relation with wine color and taste, the preferred package, time spent for wine shopping, preferred producers, brands, grape variety, quality influence in choosing wine categories, identifying wine consumers profile. The analysis and interpretation of results revealed that decision factors in buying wine are the type of the wine, the price, followed by color, packaging and advertisement

DIAGNOSIS OF VITICULTURE POTENTIAL IN ROMANIA

This research investigates Romanian viticulture potential. In pursuing this, statistical data were analyzed, related to the areas occupied by vines and grape production per hectare of the Romanian and European Union vineyard. Romania is among the countries with a millenary tradition in vines. Climatic and soil conditions of our country are favorable for growth and fruiting vines

ROMANIAN WINE TRADE IN THE PERIOD 2007-2013

The paper is based on a research that aimed to analyze the wine exports of Romania by top destination countries in the period 2007-2013. The research method was based on statistical interpretations of the trade data provided by International Trade Center. In value terms the Romanian wine exports increased each year during this period, the main export destination being Germania, United Kingdom and China. Spain was the main exporter of wine for Romania, this country taking advantage of reduced Romanian wine production and Romanian domestic market potential for wine sales

ANALYSIS ON THE EVOLUTION OF SURFACES UNDER VINE IN ROMANIA (2003-2013)

The paper aimed to make an analysis on the evolution of the areas under vines in Romania for the period 2003-2013 related with the factors that contributed to this evolution. The research method is related with dynamic analyze of time data series, using absolute and relative indicators. The discussions are focused on evolution of total vineyards, underlining the evolution tendencies of grafted vines areas. In Romania, the areas decreased with 23,5 % during the period 2003-2013. The share of grafted vines in the total areas increased from 49,62 % in 2003 to 50,03 % in 2013, but in absolute term the areas with grafted vines decreased with 26.042 ha in the selected period

Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case

The behavior of vegetable consumption in the context of sustainable development has become a point of interest. Determining the barriers and the drivers for developing a sustainable consumption pattern, including food, should be a priority for every nation, as so to be able to design targeted food policies that would contribute to this development. Reducing the pressure on resources by diminishing meat consumption and increasing vegetable consumption is one of the global directions that should be followed. The situation of the current status of vegetable consumption in Romania is, therefore, important. Through an empirical quantitative analysis, the vegetable consumption pattern of Romanian consumers is presented. The results show that the respondents lack proper environmental education and concern, but unconsciously are aware of sustainability criteria such as choosing local and seasonal vegetables, choosing according to the freshness of the vegetables, and wasting little of these purchases. The main barriers determined in developing more sustainable vegetable choices in the case of Romanian consumers are income and time availability restrictions. It is also important to have the ability to identify the local, seasonal, and organic vegetables through specific labels, and to provide the local producers with the ability to sell their products in supermarkets, at fair prices. These would be the main drivers for developing a sustainable vegetable choice. Adding to that, an awareness campaign at the national level regarding the importance of individual choice would contribute to educating towards a sustainable purchasing pattern

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Romanian Labor Market

The present research aims to establish the impact that the current crisis situation the planet is facing, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, has had so far on the Romanian labor force market. In this context, given the lack of information and information regarding this pandemic and its effects, the administration of a questionnaire among the population was considered to identify the research results. The method of semantic differential and the method of ordering the ranks were used for the interpretation of the results. With the help of this questionnaire, it will be possible to answer the question of the research in this study: What are the main effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Romanian labor market? The main results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Romanian workforce; the respondents of the applied questionnaire claimed that they obtained better results and maintained a similar income, but the health crisis also influenced the mentality of employees, with respondents stating that in the event of changing jobs, they would consider it very important for the new employer to ensure the conditions for preventing and combating COVID-19, as well as complex health insurance. However, analyzing at the macroeconomic level, it was found that the COVID-19 pandemic induced an increase in the number of unemployed people in the Romanian labor market