Romanian exports, increasingly dependent on car industry

The start of Ford’s operations in Craiova and the shift of Dacia towards exports are set to lift the weight of the domestic car industry from 18% of Romania’s overall exports at present to 30% after 2012. In the first four months of this year, exports of vehicle subassemblies, parts and accessories slightly exceeded 1bn euros, while exports of cars reached 468.5m euros. Car exports surged by 66% from the year-ago period, while car part exports dropped by almost 40%, according to statements by the Association of Car Producers in Romania (ACAROM). “As total exports amounted to 8.73bn euros, statistical data for this period show that subassemblies, car parts and accessories account for 12% of Romania’s exports and cars for 5.4, namely a cumulated weight of 17.4%,” said Constantin Stroe, ACAROM chairman. “The domestic car industry may come to account for a share of above 30% of exports in 2012 and 4% of the country’s GDP, in the absence of serious economic problems,” said Stroe.