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Romania Consumption
Although gross agricultural output had been increasing
at a
rate four times higher than population growth between 1950
and
1980, food availability remained inadequate. In 1981
rationing was
imposed for the first time since 1953, and it remained in
effect
throughout the decade, as the regime exported as much as
possible
to pay off the foreign debt. In 1985 the average citizen
was
eligible to receive 54.88 kilograms of meat and fish, 1.1
kilograms
of margarine, 9.6 kilograms of cooking oil, 14.8 kilograms
of
sugar, 114.5 kilograms of flour, 45.3 kilograms of
potatoes, 20
kilograms of fruit, and 114 eggs per year. In reality,
most
Romanians were unable to obtain even these scant rations,
as the
situation deteriorated even further in following years.
The food
supply program of 1988 enacted by the GNA provided for an
annual
per capita consumption of 38 liters of milk, 3.5 kilograms
of
cheese, 1.5 kilograms of butter, 128 eggs, 21 kilograms of
sweets,
3.6 kilograms of rice, 500 grams of oatmeal, and 22
kilograms of
cornmeal.
Reliable statistics on food consumption were not
available
during the 1980s. Comecon statistical reports omitted
Romanian data
after 1981. Romania's own statistical yearbooks stopped
reporting
figures for consumption of food and many other
commodities,
including clothing, appliances, automobiles, and bicycles.
Ceausescu claimed in November 1988 that the daily per
capita
calorie intake of Romanians was 3,200 calories, which he
termed
excessive. He promised to improve food supplies in 1988 by
slaughtering 8 million sheep and between 7.5 and 12.5
million hogs-
-an unlikely proposal considering that the entire national
inventory included only 18.6 million sheep and 14.3
million hogs.
Data as of July 1989
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