The top counties in Romania by export value in 2018: Bucharest leads, followed by Timis and Arad

Romania’s trade gap expanded by 16.7 percent in 2018, reaching EUR 15.1 billion – nearly 8 percent of GDP – according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). By county, the INS’s latest data on the first 11 months of 2018 show that out of a total of 42 regions (41 counties plus Bucharest), 25 record a surplus in the import-export balance and only 17 have recorded a deficit.

The biggest importer-exporter in Romania is capital city Bucharest, where the value of exports reached EUR 10.48 billion. Due to the fact that many companies are registered in the Bucharest-Ilfov area, it is no surprise that the city has the highest numbers even if it is not a center of industrial production.

Timis county ranks second, with a total export value of EUR 6.41 billion. There are many industrial plants for several industries in the area, including auto, helped by the cheap labor force and the county’s proximity to the Western border.

Arges county, the location of the Dacia-Renault plant, one of the biggest exporters in Romania, the value of goods that left the country was EUR 5.77 billion.

On the fourth place was Arad county, with a total of EUR 3.33 billion in exports, while Brasov county came fifth with EUR 3.30 billion.

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Sibiu county is on the 6^th place with EUR 2.87 billion and for the 7^th place we return to the Bucharest area, with Ilfov county, which had EUR 2.41 billion. Dolj county (EUR 2.40 billion), Alba (EUR 2.38 billion) and Prahova (EUR 2.25 billion) are the counties making up the rest of the top 10 exporters.

TOP EXPORTERS

1. Bucharest    EUR 12.07 billion
2. Timis            EUR 6.41 billion
3. Arges            EUR 5.77 billion
4. Arad             EUR 3.33 billion
5. Brasov          EUR 3.30 billion
6. Sibiu             EUR 2.87 billion
7. Ilfov              EUR 2.41 billion
8. Dolj               EUR 2.40 billion
9. Alba               EUR 2.38 billion
10. Prahova         EUR 2.25 billion

Counting the deficit ‘champions’ we can see that 5 counties are making the most in terms of value: Bucharest (EUR 12.07 billion), Ilfov (EUR 4.14 billion), Prahova (EUR 1.27 billion), Constanta (EUR 1.21 billion) and Cluj (EUR 955 million). The total deficit in these five areas reaches EUR 19.65 billion, coming from EUR 38.2 billion worth of imports (half of the total) and EUR 18.54 billion in exports (around 30 percent of total exports).

On the other end, the biggest surplus was recorded by Arges county (EUR 1.40 billion), followed by Timis (EUR 862 million), Olt (EUR 687 million), Sibiu (EUR 615 million) and Alba (EUR 572 million).