Romania’s industry shows signs of fatigue in Q1, despite resilient automobile sector

Romania’s industrial output index contracted marginally by 0.2% YoY in Q1, the statistics office INS announced. The deterioration was more visible in March, the first month after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

The seasonally-adjusted index has declined by 1.9% through the quarter (January to March), and the annual growth rate turned negative (-1.6% YoY) in March after positive readings during the first two months of the year.

As regards specific industries, automobile manufacturing boasted robust growth (+12.9% YoY in Q1) and the construction materials industry demonstrated resilience (+0.1% YoY). The oil refining industry (-28% YoY), chemical industry (-19% YoY) and metallurgy (-10% YoY) are visibly losing ground.

In a broader context, compared to the first quarter of 2019, the industrial output lost 3.3% (-2.9% for the manufacturing industries). The automobile industry posted the strongest growth (+22%), followed by the construction materials industry and electric equipment manufacturing (+17% each).

Food and beverage production, particularly important for food security and the balance of payments, increased modestly by 6.9% and 3.5%, respectively, over the past three years.

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