Page 69 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

2.9.4 Industrial production
Industrial production in Romania contracted by 2.6% y/y in
January-October 2022 and the government’s forecasting body expects
only a marginal recovery in 2023.

The high energy prices and the economic slowdown in Europe are the
main drivers for the bearish outlook after two years of generally
declining volume of industrial activity in the country.

The industrial output index in Romania posted a marginal 0.1% y/y
contraction and an encouraging +3.5% y/y advance for the
manufacturing industries in October – but some sectors were severely
hit by the energy prices while only a few gained ground.

Thus, the output in the chemical industry plunged by 21.6% y/y in
January-October, according to data published by the statistics office
INS and the output in the metallurgy sector contracted by 12.2% y/y in
the same period.

The automobile industry posted a flat performance (-0.3% y/y) in the
10-month period, while the fabrication of other transport means
(tramways is a good example given the activity of local producer Astra)
posted a 7.2% y/y advance.

Oil processing has recovered from last year’s outage of Rompetrol
Rafinare and posted a robust 10.5% y/y advance. Even the usually
robust construction materials manufacturing sector posted a small 0.2%
y/y decline, visibly caused by the rising prices.

69 SE Outlook 2023 www.intellinews.com