Foreigners push Romanian exports up

Nearly 40% of the $13.8bn record export level registered by Romania last year was due to companies either partially or fully controlled by foreigners.
Out of the total 13,600 Romanian exporting companies, 2,400 are fully foreign-held while 2,200 are partially foreign-held. All in all, the 4,600 companies exported some $5.2bn’s worth in goods last year.
The foreign capital companies tend to account for an increasingly larger share in Romania’s export figures. This is partly due to the fact that many of the foreign shareholders are major international companies that handle the distribution of the merchandise on the international markets, which takes the burden of the efforts and costs entailed by entering a foreign market off the Romanian companies’ shoulders.
Romania registered the highest export volume in its entire history last year. The most significant Romanian exporters are usually backed by major American, Turkish, German, Greek, Dutch or French investors. Only two fully Romanian-held companies, that is state-run Petrotub and private-held Ana-Imep made it among the top 15 Romanian exporters last year.
Still, the share of the foreign capital companies in the total exports remains rather low if compared with the nearby countries, such as Hungary, where it reaches 80%. In that case, it was precisely the foreign investors that changed the export structure. They cannot seem to make it in Romania, though. Most of the foreign investments have been aimed at industrial sectors and already existing companies, while the very low number of greenfield investments has not made much of a difference in the Romanian export structure.
The foreign shareholders take the Romanian products to markets these products would have much more trouble reaching otherwise. Although Europe continued to absorb about 82% of Romania’s exports last year, the geographical orientation has become more open though, with exports to Asia and Oceania totalling more than $1bn and those to the American market amounting to $762 million, up 46% since 2001.