Industry and retail look good

The business of companies dealing in industry or retail trade will soon register a slight increase, while the construction sector will stabilise, the managers of the companies on the Romanian market say, as shown in a National Statistics Institute survey. The upward trend of the processing industry is grounded on the increase in the number of orders and the slimming product inventories. On the other hand, the number of people the industrial companies employ will keep going down over the next three or four months. The decrease will be more visible in the state-run and large companies with a staff of more than 500. Sales of merchandise will increase in the first quarter of the year, the managers of the companies in this field say, with the most significant increase to be registered by vehicles, motorbike and car parts and accessories (34%). The economic outlook is also favourable for retailing and the number of employees will remain the same. The business of construction companies will stabilise soon. Production in this sector will slightly go down (by 1%), while the number of contracts and orders will go up (4%). ZF