International Trade Structure

When we hear that Romania exported goods worth 96 billion euros in 2025, the first impulse is to ask: what exactly? Finished products, Romanian brands, raw materials, or components used in products assembled elsewhere?

The answer completely changes the perception of Romania's place in the European economy, as well as how much we actually earn from what we export.

Today, at The MacEN Area, we open up trade Romanian international in its component parts.

THREE TYPES OF GOODS, ONE IMAGE

Before the numbers, a minute of context. The United Nations classifies internationally traded goods into three main categories:

Capital assets They are durable goods used by companies to produce other goods or services. These include, for example, industrial machinery, production equipment, certain machine tools, computers, and other technological equipment. Their imports are generally associated with investments and the modernization of production capacity.

Intermediate goods they are raw materials, components, and semi-finished products consumed, processed, or incorporated in the production process. Examples include steel, energy products, plastics, electronic components, wiring, or auto parts. Their share in trade indicates the intensity of an economy's links with international production chains.

Consumer goods are products intended for direct use by the public. Food, clothing, medicines, electronics, household appliances.

INTERMEDIATE GOODS, THE CORE OF FOREIGN TRADE

Intermediate goods accounted for 56.3% of Romania's exports and 58.1% of imports. Romania thus ranked among the EU economies with the highest shares of these goods in trade: eighth for exports and sixth for imports.

The structure shows the strong integration of the Romanian industry into European value chains. Companies import components, raw materials, and semi-finished products, process or integrate them into products, and part of these are subsequently exported. This model is especially visible in the automotive industry, electrical equipment, electronics, metal processing, the chemical sector, and the production of rubber and plastics.

The high proportion confirms the existence of a industrial bases és connection to the single market. At the same time, it shows that a significant part of production depends on imported components and that Romania is often positioned in the intermediate stages of the value chain.

The fact that intermediate goods account for a 1.8 percentage point higher share of imports than exports indicates a slightly greater dependence on external productive inputs. The industry thus becomes vulnerable to logistical disruptions, rising energy and raw material costs, currency fluctuations, and slowing production in the main European economies.

CAPITAL ASSETS HAVE A RELATIVELY LOW WEIGHT

Capital goods accounted for 17.5% of Romania's exports and 15.8% of imports. For comparison, at the EU level, they represented 23.3% of exports and 16.8% of imports.

The lower share in exports shows that Romania exports, to a lesser extent than the European average, equipment and technologies used by other enterprises for production. This reflects an insufficient specialization in segments such as complex industrial equipment, automation, technology, and machine tools.

Equipment imports contribute to the modernization of the economy, but their relatively moderate share shows that the intensity of productive investments and retechnologization can be improved. The absorption of European funds, infrastructure investments, digitalization, and energy projects could increase demand for this category in the medium term.

CONSUMER GOODS ACCOUNT FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE QUARTER OF TRADE

WHAT DOES THE STRUCTURE SAY ABOUT ROMANIA'S ECONOMY?

• High industrial integration. More than half of trade consists of intermediate goods, which shows that Romanian companies actively participate in cross-border production processes

• Import dependency for production. The industry needs components, raw materials, energy products, and external technologies. Consequently, an increase in exports may also lead to a rise in imports.

• Insufficient specialization in capital goods. Their share in exports is nearly 6 percentage points below the EU average, indicating significant room for a shift towards more complex products with higher added value.

• Vulnerability to the European economic cycle. When the industry in Germany, France, or Italy slows down, foreign orders for Romanian component manufacturers can drop quickly. The revival of the European industry is reflected relatively quickly in Romania's production and exports.

AUTO INDUSTRY

The automotive industry is one of the most important examples of Romania's integration into European value chains. The sector combines the use of a high volume of imported intermediate goods and components with significant production and export capacity. At the same time, passenger cars hold a significant share of the country's total exports and generate a substantial trade surplus, which helps limit the overall trade deficit.

Romania exported passenger cars worth 8.45 billion euros and imported passenger cars worth 4.56 billion euros. This resulted in a trade surplus of approximately 3.89 billion euros. The coverage ratio of imports by exports was 185,4%, more precisely, for every 100 euros of imported cars, Romania exported cars worth approximately 185 euros.

Approximately 6.80 billion euros, representing 80.4% of Romanian car exports, were destined for other EU member states. The remaining 1.65 billion euros, or 19.6%, went to economies outside the Union.

France was the main EU destination, with exports of 1.33 billion euros, equivalent to approximately 15.7% of total car exports. Turkey was the most important non-EU market, with 688 million euros, representing about 8.1% of the total and 41.6% of car exports to countries outside the EU.

The distribution reflects the role of the Dacia-Renault and Ford plants Ötös in Romania's integration into European production and distribution networks. At the same time, focusing on the European market creates exposure to EU demand trends, technological changes, emission regulations, and the transition to electric vehicles.

DIRECTION CLEAR

The structure of international trade reflects an economy deeply connected to the European production system. Intermediate goods dominate both exports and imports, confirming Romania’s role as an industrial supplier and production platform in regional value chains. However, the relatively low share of capital goods in exports shows that the shift towards more complex technological products remains a structural challenge.

The automotive industry is an example of the advantages of this model. In 2025, Romania achieved a trade surplus of nearly 3.9 billion euros from car trade, with the sector contributing significantly to limiting the overall trade deficit. However, the export value should not be entirely equated with the local added value, as production depends on numerous imported components as well as domestically produced ones.

To increase domestic economic benefit, Romania must maintain existing production activities and attract higher value-added stages: research and development, design, automotive software, batteries, electronics, technologies for electric vehicles, and local production of a larger number of components.