Aspects concerning the characteristics and trends in production and processing milk in Romania.

Milk production in Romanias agriculture occupies second place in importance after meat production in 2007 and represented 21% of animal production and 8% of agricultural production. Milk is a highly perishable product, so it is necessary along the production chain - processing - use to be a logistical system that functionally able to provide consumer desired products in the shortest time, as appropriate and the superior quality parameters. A key feature of milk and dairy sector in Romania is the use of small quantities of total production of milk by processing companies, only 21% of estimated production of milk being delivered for processing, the rest being for domestic consumption (41%) , feed consumption (12%), the producer sold through street markets and direct sales to consumers with low incomes (26%). In Romania, the privatization process in the dairy farms has resulted in their fragmentation. Thus, the private sector has become predominant: in 2002, owns 99% of the herd of cows and provide 98% of milk production, but it is represented mainly by small family farms. In all countries there are 1.2 million dairy farms, which is concentrated in a flock of 1.7 million heads. Average size of holding is 1.46 cows, the highest share (95%) being held by households with 1-2 heads. Farms that have over 100 head is only 0.01% of total and 84% belong to the former state sector.