Romania's industrial production index, seasonally adjusted, continued to converge to the pre-crisis levels in October when it advanced by 2.1% compared to September.

The advance was even stronger (+2.6% month-on-month) in the core manufacturing industries.

Crude oil processing (+6.3%) recovered after the prior deep plunge, beverage manufacturing soared by 12%, and tobacco production also advanced by 5.9%.

The automobile industry also kept performing above average (+3.8%) as well as the manufacturing of electrical products (+8.7%).

However, the seasonally adjusted industrial output lags by 2.4% behind the pre-crisis peak level seen in February.

The lag versus the pre-crisis peak is smaller (1%) for the core manufacturing sectors.

However, some industries have overcome the crisis in terms of (seasonally adjusted) production.

Namely, automobile production was 6.3% stronger in October compared to February.

The manufacturing of rubber and plastic products and electronic and optical components (also mostly used in automobile production) advanced by 4.2-4.3%.

In contrast, and quite surprisingly, food production in October was 10.7% smaller compared to February.

For the whole January-October period, the industrial output contracted by 11% and 12% for the core manufacturing industries compared to the same period of 2019.

The deepest plunge was in automobile production (-20% yoy), which was strongly impacted by the production halt during the state of emergency (March-May).

(Photo: Pexels)

iulian@romania-insider.com