Exports hit record high in October 2013 - Romania’s trade deficit narrows

Exports level reaches record high in October 2013 when the FOB (Free On Board) exports amounted to 4.7 billion euro. According to the preliminary estimations of INS (the National Institute of Statistics), CIF (Cost, Insurance & Freight) imports reached about 5.35 billion euro during the evaluated period. Hence, based on the euro currency, there’s 12% increase in exports over October 2012, while the imports are up 0.7%, compared with the similar period. At the same time, considering the amounts stated in RON, these indicators recorded a growth by 10% - exports and a drop of 1.3% - imports.

There’s also a progress over September 2013 – exports grew by 5.6% considering the amounts stated in euro (similar to the ones in lei – 5.5%). Yet, the imports show an increase, too: 9.8%, in euro, slightly higher than the one registered based on the national currency.

As a consequence, the FOB-CIF trade deficit was about 42% lower compared with October 2012 – some 643 million euro in October 2013 over 1.11 billion euro in the corresponding month of the previous year.

The same upward tendency is visible during the entire interval between January 1, 2013 and October 31, 2013, the FOB exports reaching almost 41.2 billion euro after a 9.2% growth, while the CIF imports amounted to nearly 46 billion euro, down 0.1%. Given these results, the trade deficit reported also registered 42% decrease, compared with the similar period in 2012.

As for the intra-community trade (Intra EU28), in the first ten months of the year, the deliveries amounted to approximately 28.8 billion euro, 69.9% of the total exports, whilst the arrivals - almost 35 billion euro, meaning 76% of the total imports. So, the extra-community trade has a much reduced component in the total exports and imports – deliveries represent 30% of the total exports and the arrivals, about 24% of the imports.

As per the same INS report, during the January 1 – October 31, 2013 period, the following categories of products – transport equipment and vehicles and other manufactured products – have substantially influenced the structure of exports and imports.