Outsourcing accounts for half of exports

Almost half of Romanian exports in the first four months of the year were exports that “resulted from the active improvement of temporarily imported goods”, commodities processed as outsourcing or under contracts similar to outsourcing. Contracts of this type rely on the cheap labour force in Romania.

“According to customs data, of total exports in the period January 1-April 30 this year, 51.7% were final exports, while 48.1% accounted for goods resulting from the active improvement of temporarily imported commodities,” the National Statistics Office said.

This index was first published by the National Statistics Institute in February. In the first two months of year, the proportion of “actively improved” exports in the total was higher, at 49.15%.

The lower weight of exports in outsourcing can be accounted for by the slower pace of growth in exports of clothes and footwear amid the recent depreciation of the single European currency against the ROL, and thus the decreasing competitiveness of Romanian products, and tougher competition from China.

FOB exports for the first four months of the year rose by 18.2% from the corresponding period last year to reach 6.8 billion euros.

Clothes and textiles, which account for the highest group of exports (19.8%), grew slower than overall exports, increasing by only 2% to 1,356 million euros.

Over the same period, metallurgic goods grew by 32.8% at a time of globally increasing steel prices due to the high demand from China.

Exports to EU countries, however, increased by over 12% compared with the first four months of 2003, with exports to EU countries accounting for almost 70% of the total.

Italy, Germany and Turkey were the top countries with which Romania signed export contracts in the first four months of the year. In the same period, CIF exports amounted to 9.2 billion euros, rising by nearly 23% against the same period of 2004. ioana.leaua@zf.ro