Romania's industrial production index increased by 2.7% (+2.8% for the core manufacturing sector) in December 2020 compared to the same month of 2019.

It was the second positive annual growth rate in more than one year and a half - namely since May 2019 - after the slim 0.2% yearly advance recorded in September.

The seasonally-adjusted index edged up by 0.9% compared to November (+0.5% in manufacturing), but it is some 2.3% below the pre-crisis peak seen in February.

Overall, Romania's industry ended the year with a sharp contraction close to the double-digit area (-9.8%). Very few sectors managed to boast positive growth rates last year, mainly propelled by the sanitary crisis: pharmaceuticals (+5%) and chemical products (+7.2%, partly driven by disinfectants - but also possibly by a disruption in imports of other chemicals).

However, the contraction in other sectors was uneven: while the light industry plunged by nearly 30% (amid weak domestic and foreign demand), other sectors, such as electronic and electric equipment, construction materials, posted small declines in the range of a couple of percentage points.

The production of automobiles contracted by 16%, while the production of food and beverages (and tobacco) went down by only 1-3%.

By broad categories of goods, production of consumer durables inched up by 0.4% while production of capital goods plunged by 16% - with all the other categories in between.

As regards the quarterly data, the industrial production was still in the negative area in the fourth quarter of the year (-0.6% year-on-year in Q4) while recovering after the plunge seen during the lockdown.

The seasonally adjusted index advanced by another 4.6% compared to Q3.

(Photo: Pexels)

iulian@romania-insider.com