Romania’s foreign trade deficit (goods) increased by 4.4% y/y to EUR 8.66 billion in the second quarter of the year (Q2), after it had posted negative annual growth rates for the previous four quarters, data from the Statistics Office (INS) show.

For the first half of the year, the trade gap still contracted by 2% to EUR 16.5 billion thanks to the 8.2% y/y contraction in Q1.

Both exports and imports rose faster in Q2, by 4.9% y/y (to EUR 25.2 billion) and 4.7% y/y (to EUR 33.9 billion), respectively in Q2, as a result of higher nominal prices driven by energy prices. The imports visibly shifted from a benign trajectory of nominal stabilization (-1.4% y/y in Q1) towards positive growth rates in contrast to the shrinking domestic demand. This was, most likely, an effect of higher nominal prices, although the stabilization of economic activity (in construction, rather than industry) may have had an impact on the imports as well.

A large part of the swing from a shrinking trade deficit in Q1 to a widening trade gap in Q2 was generated by the trade in mineral fuels (crude oil mainly): while Romania imported less crude oil in Q1 due to outages of its refineries, the country resumed imports in Q2 when the price of crude oil and petroleum products further rose.

Romania is a net importer of petroleum products, and this was visible in the trade balance during Q2. The imports of mineral fuels (crude oil and petroleum products) contracted by 14.2% y/y in Q1 but widened by 11.7% y/y in Q2. 

Despite the deterioration in the country’s trade gap during Q2, Romania’s trade deficit in the rolling 12-month period decreased to an estimated 8.4% in June 2026 (subject to revision after Q2 GDP data is released), from 9.6% of GDP in June 2025.

(Photo: Andrey Kuzmin/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com