Romania’s industrial output surged by an impressive 12.1% y/y and even more (+16.9% y/y) in the core manufacturing industry, according to data published by the statistics office INS. This was, however, due to the larger number of workdays. 

The workday-adjusted industrial output rose by only +3.6% y/y (+6.4% y/y in manufacturing), still an outstanding performance after negative annual growth rates in the previous six quarters. 

Besides the positive signs shown by March, April industrial figures confirm a positive trend consistent with the PMI index that has improved steadily in March-May and moved in the positive area (above the 50-point benchmark) in April-May for the first time in the past year.

In seasonally and workday-adjusted terms, the industrial output in Romania remained at a high level in April after the record performance in March (the highest level since May 2022), although edging down by 1.3% m/m.

The manufacturing output (also in adjusted terms) edged down by 1.5% m/m in April after reaching in March the highest level since February 2020, before the COVID-19 crisis.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Michal Bednarek/Dreamstime.com)