Sales in the manufacturing sector increased 5.1% in the first three months from the year-earlier period, but mining sales were down 2.3%.
By segment, sales of capital goods rose 13.6% on the year, while sales in the durable and intermediate goods industries increased by 8.1% and 5.6%, respectively.
Consumer goods sales inched up 0.6% on the year in the first quarter, but energy sales declined 13.6%, the data showed.
In March alone, Romanian industrial sales advanced 5% from a month earlier, but were down 2.9% compared with March 2012.