Industrial Barometer: Romanian firms report drop in stocks

In April the indicator for the  production volume of Romanian firms dropped to 61 points compared with 69 in March. In May, it dropped with one more point, reaching 60, with three points over the average of the 19 months, according to the Industrial Barometer. 

Even if the activity is in expansion, over 50 points, the situation continues to cause worries. Firms report decreases in stocks, from 50 points in March to 48 in April and 44 in May, which means firms have less orders than sales.

The indicators for unexecuted order volume dropped from 53 in April to 51 in May. The profitability suffered also from other reasons. In the last four months, managers reported a continuous growth of the input prices.

The indicators of production costs grew from 54 in February to 63 in March . In turn, the retail prices stayed constant around the value of 50, between expansion and contraction. The data for May show a possible come back on short run. The indicator for new orders and export orders grew at the same time, from 58 in April to 64 in May, making possible a future stop of  the decline.

However, they produced a slight recovery of personnel hiring from an index of 50 (between raise and contraction) from 53 points. But overall, managers are worried, as the trust synthetic indicator of the future activity continued to drop from 64 points in February to 62 in March, 60 in April and 57 in May. Now it is with 3 points under the average of the last 19 months.
Georgiana Bendre

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