Manufacturing-Romania

Manufacturing-Romania

After World War II Romanian manufacturing underwent a radical structural change. Three branches became much more important: engineering and metalworking accounted for 25.8 percent of all industrial production in 1990, compared with 13.3 percent in 1950, while electricity and fuels increased their share from 13.2 to 19 percent and chemicals from 3.1 to 9.6 percent. Two other branches, metallurgy and building materials, showed a slight relative advance. The main relative declines were in wood processing and paper, textiles and clothing, and food processing.

Development in the manufacturing sector in Romania following the 1989 revolution was discouraging and remained so throughout the 1990s. Because the heavy industry that the communist government had invested in had not received the required maintenance and modernization during the austerity of the 1980s, it became inefficient and uncompetitive. Furthermore, the manufacturing labour force became increasingly angered by the inflated salaries awarded to communist officials and the conduct of a largely naive and corrupt management class that was unfamiliar with international business practices. For all of these reasons, Romanian manufacturing struggled as it attempted to compete in the world market.

In the years following the revolution, the conflict between the former managers of heavy industry, who opposed transition to a market economy, and labourers, who sought reform, was at the heart of political developments in Romania. Administrations rose and fell based on their plans for the manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, and energy sectors and workers’ responses to them.

At the beginning of the 21st century, much heavy industry was standing idle or operating well below capacity. Light industry, on the other hand, proved to be a hopeful prospect, attracting some foreign joint-venture investment. The machine-building and metal-processing industry remains the main branch of the industrial economy, accounting for about one-fifth of bulk industrial production. It provides a good index of the changing priorities in the Romanian economy: before World War II it accounted for only 10 percent of the total, being exceeded in importance by food processing and even by the textile and ready-made clothing industry. Contemporary centres of production are Bucharest, Brașov, Ploiești, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Arad, Reșița, and many others, with a considerable degree of regional specialization. There has been a strong tendency to concentrate on such modern branches as the electronics industry, as well as to widen and diversify the range of production. Beginning in the 1990s, foreign electronic manufacturers opened facilities in Romania, attracted by low labour costs and the proximity to western European markets.

The Romanian iron industry has particularly strong connections with Galați, as well as with Călărași, Hunedoara, and Reșița (the last having a record of activity extending back to the 18th century). Smaller units exist at Brăila, Câmpia Turzii (near Turda), Iași, Oțelul Roșu, Roman, and Târgoviște. The nonferrous metallurgical industry, which also dates from the Dacian-Roman period, is largely concentrated in the southwest and west, with copper, gold, and silver production still active, especially in the Apuseni Mountains. Aluminum production is a more recent development; alumina factories at Oradea and Tulcea supply the aluminum reduction complex at Slatina in the Olt district.

In contrast to metallurgy (which relies on imports of ore and coke to supplement the modest domestic resources), the wood products industry is readily supplied with domestic timber. A chain of modern wood industrialization combines turns out a range of products, including furniture and chipboard, which have done well in foreign markets. The building materials industry also utilizes a wide range of resources across the country; cement manufacture represents an important subbranch. The main centres are at Turda, Medgidia, Bicaz, Fieni, and Târgu Jiu.

The long-established textile industry has also undergone steady development since its radical overhaul in the 1930s. The closely connected ready-made clothing industry has undergone considerable expansion, with heavy investment in new plants. Silkworm production retains a modest importance despite the introduction of synthetic fibres.

The food industry—formerly the foundation of the economy—has been all but eclipsed by the rapid development of other branches. It has, nevertheless, continued to grow in absolute terms, and processing plants are distributed throughout the country.