What Are The Biggest Industries In Romania?

Romania is an upper middle-income country having a mixed economy and has been ranked as having the highest human development index. The country is a member of the European Union, and it is the 16th largest by nominal GDP in the whole of the European Union while it is the 13th largest based on purchasing power parity. Globally Romania has the 41st largest economy having an annual output of $435,454 million and it is projected to reach $1 trillion before 2035. The economy of Romania has been referred to as the tiger economy as a result of the rapid developments and huge growth rates. By 2009, the country's economic growth rate was among the fastest in Europe attaining growth of 8.4% in 2008 which was higher than the average of European Union rates. Romania has vast deposits of natural resources such as uranium, salt, copper, nickel, iron ore, oil, and natural gas. Romania is a leading country in various fields such as the production of motor vehicles and IT. The country's capital is Bucharest and is among the largest industrial and financial centers in the eastern part of Europe. In 2016, Romania registered highest economic growth in the whole of European Union, according to the Eurostat, and it recorded a growth of more than 6% increase in GDP. IMF indicated that Romania had the biggest economic growth both in 2016 and 2017. The projected economic growth rate in Romania is expected reach 4.5% and 4.1% for the year 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Agriculture

Agriculture in Romania plays a significant role and employs approximately 29% of the country’s labor force which is one of the highest in Europe. Agriculture in the country contributes about 8.1% of the GDP. The country has an agricultural capacity of about 14.7 million acres, and only 10 million are arable. Mechanization of agriculture in the country is still relatively low compared to other European Union countries. Romania has one tractor for every 54 acres of land, while the average for the European Union is one tractor for every 13 acres of land. There are about 170,000 tractors in the country, and 80% are either obsolete or aging and many farmers in the country use horse-drawn agriculture and other animal power. The primary challenge facing agriculture in Romania is the lack of significant investment because of difficulty to access available funds, severe soil erosion, and obsolete technology. Large-scale farming characterizes the Barragan region in southeastern part of Romania while poultry, dairy products, pork, and apples are concentrated on the western part of the region. Beef production is mainly concentrated in the central part of Romania, while other commodities like fruit, wine, and vegetables are primarily concentrated in the central and southern part of Romania. The country is a major producer of several agricultural products and is presently expanding on fisheries and forestry industries.

Mining

Romania is ranked the 10th country in the world with most diverse mineral production, and there are approximately 60 different minerals that are produced in the country. Romania has deposits of different types of minerals enough to supply the country’s manufacturing output. The country also imports crude petroleum, anthracite, coal, and bituminous. In 2007, Romania mined about 565,000 tons of iron, 47,000 tons of zinc ore, 4,000 tons of tungsten, and 34 million tons of coal. Most abundant minerals in the country include halite or sodium chloride. The country also produces oil and production is not enough for self-sufficiency and Romania still imports gas. There is an extensive network of the pipeline to transport crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas and has one of the world's longest pipeline. Other significant minerals in the country include copper, iron ore, chromium, mercury, uranium, barite, gold, antimony, celestine, emery, limestone, marble, magnesium, feldspar, pumice, clay, and pyrite among others. The region of Rosia Montana is thought to have the most significant deposits of gold in all Europe which are estimated to have large deposits of gold and silver valued at about $3 billion.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Romania experienced massive growth in 2017 compared to 2016 when it grew by 11.5%, and the new orders in the industry went up by 12.9% over the same period. Romania is now an emerging center in Europe, and the automotive market has been growing on an average of 18% annually, and projections for 2009 is expected to exceed €20 billion euros by 2020. The country is now the 4th largest manufacturer of automotive in the CEE, and some of the automotive companies in the country include the two big manufacturers based in Mioveni and Craiova, and they are Dacia and Ford. More than 600 OEMs manufacturers for automotive supplies established plants in Romania which meets the local market as well as for the export market. 410,397 automobiles were produced in 2013 in the country, and it was an increase from 78,165 in the year 2000. Romania enjoys the largest share of the world market for machine tools in 2004 which was 5.3%. Other large manufacturing companies in Romania include Petrom, Bitdefender, Mobexpert, and Romstal. There are numerous other small and medium scale manufacturing companies which form the largest part of Romania's manufacturing industry.

Service

The service industry in Romania contributed 55% of the GDP in 2003 and employed 51.3% of the country's labor force. Some of the main sub-sectors in the service industry include business activities, renting, financial services, transports, restaurants, and trade. The whole industry has expanded tremendously in the past few years and employed approximately 47% of the population and accounting for more than half of the country's GDP. The retail sector is the largest employer in the industry employing about 12% of the population. The retail sector is primarily concentrated in many small retail stores which are found mainly in the shopping malls. In the past few years, there has been a rise in the number of big stores like the hypermarkets and Carrefour which is a subsidiary of the French retail store.