The Availability for Consumption and the Expenses for Purchasing Agri-Food Products in Romania in the Period 2014-2019

The paper aimed to study the dynamics of the consumption of agri-food products per inhabitant in close relationship with the average annual expenses used for purchasing this type of goods using the primary data available in the data base of National Institute of Statistics for the period 2014-2019, and as methods for processing the data: fixed basis index, structural indices, regression equations, coefficients of determination and Bravais-Pearson coefficients of correlation. Consumption depends first of all on production which, in the period 2014-2019, increased in case cereals, meat (animal live weight at slaughter), fish, vegetal oil, fruits, and honey, but it declined in case of milk, eggs, potatoes, and vegetables. In 2019, a Romanian consumed in average: cereals 204.3 kg cereals, meat 77.7 kg, fish 7.8 kg, milk 252.2 kg, fruits 111.3 kg, vegetables 196.6 and honey 0.7 kg, but lees than before, only 241 eggs and 92.3 kg potatoes. In 2019, a Romanian spent in average Lei 3,338 for buying agri-food products, being by +42.4% more than in 2014. In 2019, the share of the agri-food products by category in the average annual total expenses was: cereals 16.8%, vegetables 7.8%, meat 6.6%, fruits 6%, fish 3.9%, eggs 1.7%, vegetable oil 1.7% and honey 0.8%. Average annual consumption of agro-food products and average annual expenses for purchasing this category of goods are strongly dependent of each other, as confirmed by the linear regression equations and coefficient of determination (higher than 0.7) for almost all the agri-food products, except vegetal oil and eggs. The values of correlation coefficients between consumption and expenses were higher than 0.75 for almost all the products reflecting a positive and strong relationship, except vegetal oil, where it was found a moderate and positive correlation. All these reflect a better assurance of food security and the improvement of the living standard of the population