European firms benefit not only from economies of scale due to membership in the world's largest single market, but also from EU trade agreements that allow them to export their goods and services. At the same time, foreign firms wishing to export to the EU must meet the same high standards as local firms, so there is no risk of unfair competition from non-EU companies.
In 2022, the EU had a trade deficit of €432 billion, mainly due to the steep rise in energy prices. However, the situation has improved. The trade deficit fell from €150 billion in the third quarter of 2022 to €78 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and to €2 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The EU's main export partner in 2022 have formerly the United States of America, and for imports China.
The total value of Romania's international trade, in the first two months of 2023, was 34,471.3 million euros, in 7.0% increase compared to the first two months of 2022, with exports registering an increase to 15,053.1 million euros (+9.1%), and imports increasing to 19,418.2 million euros (+5.4 %).
The total EU 27 intra-community trade of Romania increased by 10.2%, to 25,334.0 million euros, of which the export experienced an increase of 11.0%, being 11,109.2 million euros, and the import an increase of 9.6%, amounting to 14,224.8 million euros.
The negative balance of Romania's trade balance in the relationship with EU 27 partners increased by 4.9% in the first two months of 2023 compared to the first two months of 2022, from -2,969.6 million euros to -3,115, 7 million euros.
On the whole of commercial relations outside the community area, a slight downward trend was recorded.
Total extra-EU trade amounted to 9,137.3 million euros, with -0.9% less in the first two months of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, of which export 3,943.9 million euros (4.1%), and import 5,193.4 million euros (-4.5%).
For the same two periods, the trade balance deficit of Romania - non-EU 27 countries decreased from -1,647.0 million euros to -1,249.5 million euros (-24.1%).
Against the background of the different dynamics of trade volumes in the extra-community relationship compared to the EU 27 intra-community relationship, the share of total trade with the EU 27 countries in Romanian international trade increased from 71.4% in the first two months of 2022 to 73.5% in the first two months of 2023.
The analysis of exports by commodity groups highlights the fact that the main categories of products have registered increases in deliveries on the international market and, depending of the share held in total export, they influenced the amplitude of the upward trend of exports achieved in the first two months of 2023, compared to the same period of the previous year.
In the structure of the main product groups, Romanian imports recorded the following values in the first two months of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year :
In the first two months of 2023, the top 10 destination countries for Romanian exports as a share of Romania's total exports were: Germany ( 21.3%), Italy (10.7%), France (6.8%), Hungary (6.6%), Bulgaria (4.1%), Poland (3.7%), Turkey (3, 5%), the Czech Republic (3.3%), the Netherlands (2.9%) and the UK (2.9%). The cumulative weight of these countries was 65.8% in total export.
For imports, the first 10 partner countries of Romania (countries of origin for extra-EU imports and dispatch countries for intra-EU imports) have a share of 67.8% of the total import made in the first two months of 2023, respectively: Germany (20.1%), Italy (8.3%), Hungary (6.6%), Poland (5.9%), China (5.4%), Turkey (4.6%), Bulgaria (4.6%), France (4.6%), Netherlands (4.1%) and Austria (3.6%).
