Pastry shops will produce approximately 6.6 million traditional Romanian sponge cakes (Romanian cozonac, traditionally made and consumed on Christmas and Easter, editor’s note) during the Winter Holidays, with the domestic industry’s offer being about 3-5% smaller than last year, said Aurel Popescu, president of the Romanian Milling, Baking, and Flour Products Employers’ Federation (ROMPAN), in an interview with AGERPRES.

“Prices have increased only in line with the inflation rate, but in terms of quantity, the production of sponge cakes will decrease by 3-5% during the Winter Holidays. We have reasons for joy when it comes to sponge cake exports, which have increased 30% compared to last year. We export to the UK, the United States, Canada, and all countries with large Romanian communities. However, the biggest growth is in the UK, where Romanian sponge cakes are sold everywhere, not just in stores preferred by Romanians. The offer is very rich: we have sponge cakes with cranberries, oranges, chocolate, pistachios, and, of course, the classic ones with walnuts, raisins, and Turkish delight,” Popescu said.

The head of ROMPAN emphasised that the industry is currently facing issues related to capping markups on certain products in the retail sector, as well as a shortage of labour.