Electricity consumption fell 1%, which can potentially be explained through a decline of industrial activity. Moreover, this decline comes after last year Romania managed to consume 3% more energy than in 2010, being very close to reaching the 2008 level. Fuel consumption also fell since the beginning of the year, but prices went up.
The car market did not fare very well either, with car sales falling 17% in the first half.
The first six months of the year also came with declines of a few percentage points for the major telecom players. But the telecom sector is in a stabilization stage after three consecutive years of major revenue declines.
The only positive signal came from retail sales, which went up by around 4%. The good news comes from retail after three consecutive years of declines, during which time the cumulated decline neared 20%. Consumption started on a downward path in 2009, after it had been the driver of the economy during the boom years.
This year’s consumption rise announced by the statistics institute can be put down to Romanians being more relaxed and making more shopping trips, although they continue to buy less per trip than they used to.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)
Evolution of the largest markets in the economy in the first half of the year
| Position | Domeniu | Evolution in first six months |
| 1 | Banks | 4.8% |
| 2 | Oil | – 2.3% |
| 3 | Constructions | -2-3% |
| 4 | Electricity | – 1% |
| 5 | Mergers . acquisitions | 82% |
| 6 | Gas | – 2% |
| 7 | Cars | -17% |
| 8 | Retail | 4% |
| 9 | Restaurants | 0-5% |
| 10 | Textile | 5-10% |
| 11 | Non life insurance | 3.5% |
| 12 | Pharma | 12.6% (7.2% in euros) |
| 13 | Beer | 4% |
| 14 | Commercial vehicles | -10% |
| 15 | Wood and furniture | – 15-20% |
| 16 | Bakery | 0% |
| 17 | Mineral water | “3% in volume; 9% in value” |
| 18 | Cement | stagnation – slight decline |
| 19 | Cold cuts | -10% |
| 20 | Hotels | decline |
| 21 | Travel agencies | 15% |
| 22 | Cosmetics | 5% |
| 23 | Advertising | -5% |
| 24 | Asigurari viata | -0.4% |
| 25 | Internet provision services | Significant rise |
| 26 | Wines | -10% |
| 27 | Computers | Slight rise |
| 28 | Chocolate | Decline |
| 29 | Regular airline transport | 2-5% |
| 30 | Mobile phones | Decline |
| 31 | Private clinics | 5-10% |
| 32 | Detergents | 0-5% |
| 33 | Telecom services | -2% |
| 34 | Recruitment market | 15% |