Romania’s industrial production fell by 5.3% year-on-year in May 2026, following a revised 3.0% decline in April and marking the steepest drop since March 2025. The downturn in manufacturing intensified (-5.5% vs -4.3% in April), reflecting sharper contractions across most subsectors. The most notable declines were recorded in the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (-15.3% vs -14.5%), fabricated metal products excluding machinery and equipment (-4.3% vs +1.0%), rubber and plastic products (-4.5% vs +1.0%), chemicals and chemical products (-1.6% vs +0.1%), and furniture (-23.0% vs -16.9%).
Output in mining and quarrying also weakened further (-4.8% vs -1.0%), while production in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply fell by 3.1%, reversing a 3.8% increase recorded in the previous month. On a monthly basis, total industrial output declined by 2.8% in May, after a revised 1.6% rise in April. Over the January–May period, industrial production was 3.1% lower than in the same period a year earlier.
