RO exports hit record in November, helped by automobile industry and Petromidia

Romania’s exports rose by 18.6% YoY and by 19.3% YoY compared to November 2019, reaching a new (nominal) all-time record of EUR 7.15 bln, according to data from the National Statistics Institute.

The country’s largest refinery Petromidia resumed operations that month after a four-month outage due to an accident, and the automobile industry recovered after deeper problems caused by a shortage of microchips during the previous months.

The 6% smaller car production compared to November 2020 was a visible improvement compared to the 65% YoY contraction in October and 50% in September.

The global inflationary drive contributed to the record foreign trade figures (in Romania and elsewhere).

This means that Romania’s imports also increased robustly by 21.5% YoY to EUR 9.25 bln in November 2021, 23.5% more compared to November 2019.

The trade gap in November was EUR 2.1 bln, 32% up YoY.

Over the 12-month period to November, Romania’s exports rose by 6% compared to 2019 - to EUR 73.3 bln.

Its imports rose much faster by 12% compared to 2019 to EUR 96.6 bln. Consequently, the trade gap has widened by 34% compared to 2019 to EUR 23.3 bln.

The gap to GDP ratio increased from 8.5% to 9.9% (using the best comparable terms available).

(Photo: Pixabay)