Browse Data and Analysis

Romania applies European Union (EU) regulations on imports of animal and non-animal products from the United States. The legislation on export certification is generally harmonized at the EU level. Romanian legislation applies to the minor categories on which requirements are not harmonized.

As a European Union (EU) member since 2007, Romania observes the EU regulations and directives, which are applied directly or transposed through national level implementing regulations. This report updates the sections on labeling requirements, packaging related waste, taxation, and other requirements measures over last year’s Romania FAIRS Annual Country Report.

Animal health concerns, feed, energy, fuel prices, and labor are the major factors impacting the Romanian swine sector. Romania’s swine herd had a 5.9 percent year-on-year decline in May 2022, while pork meat imports grew by 23 percent during the first eight months of 2022.

Guatemala adopted science-based regulations for the adoption of agricultural biotechnology in 2018. These regulations were immediately challenged by activists but in 2021 the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court reaffirmed the legality of the regulatory process, paving the way for the approvals of the first applications in April 2021.

Romania, a member of the European Union (EU), maintains a balanced view regarding agricultural biotechnology. Although no biotech crops are cultivated in Romania, farmers continue to view biotechnology as an instrument in managing the agronomic risks and sustaining their competitiveness.

In June 2022 the Government of Guatemala confirmed that poultry products exported to Guatemala no longer need the USDA export mark on every box, and instead USDA can apply the mark on every consignment, pallet, or transportation unit. This has resulted in more efficient export clearance times with reduced labor, dock space and loading time which ultimately translates into better poultry prices for consumers.

The HRI report provides U.S. agricultural exporters current information on market trends and the best product prospects for the Guatemalan market.

The Ministry of Health issued three updates this year: a) Presidential Decree 53-2022 establishes new fees for services as of March 1, 2022 b) Technical Norm 001-2022 provides regulations for food supplements, and c) Communication dated June 1, 2022 establishes guidance for sampling processed food products in Guatemala as part of the routine surveillance.

This report contains the list of all the mandatory export certificates required by the Government of Guatemala for agricultural imports. This report has no changes from its 2021 version.

Supermarkets, hypermarkets, and independent food stores, continue expanding in Guatemala; imports of U.S. consumer-oriented products have continued to grow and in 2021, the value of these products reported a record year of $637 million.

Guatemala maintains its 305,000 Ha of coffee, but harvested area is slightly reduced due to higher production costs, both inputs and labor. Production costs raised 32 percent as fertilizer prices continue doubling and migration is negatively impacting labor availability.

In 2021, according to Romania’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS), Romania imported $182 million of U.S. food and agricultural products, up 2.7 percent compared to 2020. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's bulk, intermediate, and consumer-oriented (BICO), U.S. suppliers shipped $84 million of U.S. food and agricultural products to Romania in 2021.