Car parts manufacturers in Romania see losses soar 142%

Hit by slowdowns in production during the pandemic, the Romanian car parts industry is also seeing the effects of shattered supply chains and increased energy and production costs. That translates into worsening performance indicators, such as increased net losses and fewer employees.

If in 2020 there were 79 companies manufacturing car parts in Romania, last year the number dropped to 71. The number of employees in the whole sector also decreased from just over 64,000 to around 59,000. Turnover saw a slight increase, up to RON 22.4 bln (EUR 4.46 bln) from RON 21.9 bln in 2020.

Most importantly, however, net losses in the industry more than doubled from RON 131 mln in 2020 to RON 318 mln last year.

Robert Bosch, Hella Romania, and Continental Automotive Systems top the ranking of Romania’s most important manufacturers of electric and electronic car and engine parts, according to the National Trade Registry data cited by Economedia.

The leader, German brand Robert Bosch, had a turnover of RON 4.8 bln in 2021, up from RON 3.9 bln the year prior. The company also registered over RON 115 mln in profit, managing to up sales despite the difficult economic context.

Hella Romania, with a turnover of RON 3.5 bln, also racked in profits totaling close to RON 87 mln last year.

In third, the Romanian branch of the global company Continental Automotive had losses of over RON 244 mln last year. In 2020, the company was seeing profits of over RON 87 mln and had over 7,000 employees. Last year, Continental roughly halved its number of employees in Romania.

(Photo source: Alexander Khitrov | Dreamstime.com)