The reporting period includes the harvest of winter wheat, which started in July, and the growth of spring wheat and maize, sown in April. Overall crop conditions in Romania was good. The maximum VCI was 0.93 and the current cropped arable land fraction was 1.00， 0.01 higher than average. At 369 mm, rainfall was marginally higher than average; TEMP exceeded average by 0.9°C and radiation was high by 1%. This led to an increase of 5% of the biomass production potential. According to the crop condition development graph based on NDVI, conditions were close to average in April and May, but below average in June and July. 

Regional analysis

More spatial detail is provided below for three main agro-ecological zones in the country: the Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills; the Eastern and southern maize, wheat and sugar beet plains and the Western and central maize, wheat and sugar beet plateau.

Climate conditions were fair in all three regions. Conditions were alike and differed little from average in the Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills and the Western and central maize, wheat and sugar beet plateau. For the listed three regions, rain was 8%, 14% and 20% higher than average, respectively, while temperature anomalies were significant at  +1.0℃, +0.7℃ and +1.1℃. Radiation was slightly higher than average.

According to NDVI development profiles, crop condition differed in the three regions. For the central maize, wheat and sugar beet plateau, crop condition remained stable for most part of the reporting period except for a slight decrease in May. In the eastern and southern maize, wheat and sugar beet plains, a sharp decrease occurred in May, followed by an increase in June. For western Romania, the influence of crop phenology, especially the starting of maize and spring wheat growing season resulted in an increase in May and June.

VCIx values were close to 1.0 in all three regions; VCIx was below 0.8 in some parts of the southern maize, wheat and sugar beet plains and higher than 1.0 in the central area. CALF of the three regions was close to average.

Overall, satisfactory crop condition prevailed in Romania. CropWatch predicts that the 2018 maize production will be up by 15.8% while wheat  will drop by 2.1% below last season's values.

                                                         (a). Phenology of major crops

(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                                (c) Maximum VCI                                                                                     

(d) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                                       (e) NDVI profiles

(f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills (left) and Eastern and southern maize, wheat and sugarbeet plains (right))

(f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Western and central maize, wheat and sugarbeet plateau) 

Table 3.22. April 2018 – July 2018 Agro-climatic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA

Table 3.23. April 2018 – July 2018  Agronomic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 5YA

Table 3.24. Cropwatch-estimated maize,  wheat production for Romania in 2018 (thousand tons)