Romania's industrial output contracts for the second month in a row in July

Romania’s industrial production volume index contracted by 3% in July compared to the same month last year, after an even steeper annual contraction in June (-6.2%), the statistics office INS informed.

Weaker external demand, the main driver behind the industrial slowdown, also surfaced in the foreign trade data: exports contracted by 5.5% year-on-year in June and by 1.1% year-on-year in July.

The industrial growth has remained feeble since the beginning of the year, with the highest growth rate (+1.9%) in February.

In July, the contraction was milder than the average in the core manufacturing industries (-2.5%) while the activity in the utilities sector expanded by 2.3% compared to the same period last year. The mining and quarrying sector posted negative performances in both June and July (-7%-8%).

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