Romania's automobile industry feels first impacts from war in Ukraine

The mechanical and chassis plant of Dacia automobile company will be shut down for several days, starting Monday, March 14, due to the decrease in gearbox orders from Renault plants in Russia, according to Profit.ro.

Separately, minister of economy Florin Spataru said that "the Romanian automobile industry," with no reference to a specific plant, is facing bottlenecks in the supply chain with "essential parts" imported so far from Russia and Ukraine missing, Agerpres reported.

After the automobile companies around the globe were hit over the past years by a lack of semiconductors (microchips), the war in Ukraine and the economic sanctions imposed on Russia are adding more pain.

In past days, Renault - Dacia's owner - has become the only major global automaker that hasn't pulled back either on trade with Russia or from production at local factories. But the problems spotted by minister Spataru are most likely linked to the wiring systems made in western Ukraine and not necessarily with the suppliers in Russia that Renault may share with Dacia.

But the impact, in this case, must be much stronger on western automobile plants that needed to rely on such labour-intensive fasciitis than those in Romania, where the labour is much cheaper even if not as cheap as in Ukraine. And it was. Within days after Russian troops crossed into Ukraine, BMW shut several factories in Germany, Austria and Britain because of parts shortages.

In Romania, the two automobile plants (Dacia and Ford) have operated normally until recently.

(Photo source: Tudor Vintiloiu/Dreamstime.com)