That dollar amount reflects a 41.3% upturn compared to $71 billion worth of Romanian products exported 5 years earlier during 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of Romanian exported products flatlined via a -0.3% slowdown from $100.6 billion in 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Romanian leu depreciated by -7.6% against the US dollar since 2020 and dwindled by -0.5% from 2023 to 2024. Romania’s weaker local currency after 2020 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Top International Customers for Romanian Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 69.5% of products exported from Romania was bought by importers in: Germany (20.5% of the Romanian total), Italy (9.6%), France (6.3%), Hungary (5.3%), Bulgaria (4.4%), Poland (4%), Netherlands (3.64%), Türkiye (3.59%), Czech Republic (3.3%), United Kingdom (3.14%), Spain (3.11%) and the United States of America (2.5%).
From a continental perspective, 84.3% of Romania’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 9.7% was sold to importers in Asia.
Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 albeit Romania maintains its own legal currency.
Fellow EU member states bought 71.8% of all Romanian export sales in 2024.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (3%), Africa (2.5%), Latin America (0.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania led by Australia and New Zealand (0.1%).
Given Romania’s population of 18.94 million people, its total $100.4 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $5,300 for every resident in the East European country. That dollar metric equals the average $5,300 per person one year earlier for 2023.
Romania’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Romanian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Romania.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: US$17.9 billion (17.9% of total exports)
- Vehicles: $17.3 billion (17.3%)
- Machinery including computers: $10.2 billion (10.2%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $4.9 billion (4.9%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $3.6 billion (3.6%)
- Cereals: $3.2 billion (3.2%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $3.2 billion (3.2%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $3.1 billion (3.1%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $3 billion (3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.6 billion (2.6%)
Romania’s top 10 exports generated over two-thirds (68.8%) of the overall value of Romanian shipments.
Vehicles represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 10.8% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was rubber, both as materials and items made from rubber, via a 0.6% upturn.
Romania’s shipments of machinery including computers also posted a 0.6% gain.
The leading decliner among Romania’s top 10 export categories was cereals, pulled down by a -28.3% year-over-year slowdown. This retreat was partly due to lower revenues from exported Romanian wheat.
At the more detailed 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, the most valuable Romanian export products are cars (8% of Romania’s export total), automobile parts or accessories (7.9%), insulated wire or cable (4%), electrical and optical circuit boards or panels (3.8%), processed petroleum oils (2.7%), new rubber tires (2.5%), medication mixes in dosage (1.9%), wheat (1.8%), seats excluding barber or dentist chairs (1.5%), then electric water heaters and hair dryers (1.4%).
Products Generating Romania’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Romanian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports reflect the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Vehicles: US$3.4 billion (Up by 40% since 2023)
- Cereals: $2.6 billion (Down by -28.9%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $1.7 billion (Up by 25.3%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $1.1 billion (Down by -12.6%)
- Wood: $952.2 million (Down by -3.4%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $951.1 million (Down by -23.1%)
- Oil seeds: $856.8 million (Down by -46.3%)
- Ships, boats: $706.8 million (Up by 242.4%)
- Live animals: $310.7 million (Down by -4.1%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $154.8 million (Down by -55.2%)
Romania has highly positive net exports in the international trade of vehicles and also cereals, notably corn, wheat and barley. In turn, these cashflows indicate Romania’s strong competitive advantages under the related product categories.
Products Causing Romania’s Worst Trade Deficits
Romania incurred an overall -US$36.1 billion trade deficit during 2024, expanding by 15.4% from the -$31.3 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Romania that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Romania’s goods trail Romanian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$6.3 billion (Up by 7.1% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$5.1 billion (Up by 16.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$4.5 billion (Up by 7.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$3.8 billion (Up by 4.8%)
- Iron, steel: -$2.3 billion (Up by 18.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.7 billion (Down by -8.3%)
- Other chemical goods: -$1.6 billion (Down by -10.4%)
- Organic chemicals: -$1.31 billion (Up by 36.2%)
- Meat: -$1.3 billion (Down by -0.7%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$1.29 billion (Up by 113.7%)
Historically, Romania has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for crude oil, petroleum gases and electricity under the mineral fuels-related product category.
Romanian Export Companies
Not one Romanian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia also lists Romanian companies engaged in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Antibiotice Iași (pharmaceuticals)
- Arctic S.A. (household appliances)
- Automobile Dacia (cars)
- Daewoo-Mangalia Heavy Industries DMHI (ships)
- European Drinks & Foods (food, beverages)
- Farmec (cosmetics, personal hygiene)
- Jolidon (lingerie, swimsuits)
- Roman (trucks, buses)
- Romstal (sanitary wear)
- Tehnoton (home electronics, machinery)
In macroeconomic terms, Romania’s total exported goods represent 11.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($888.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 12.9% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Romania’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Romania’s unemployment rate averaged 5.433% in 2024, down from an average 5.567% one year earlier for 2023 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Romania’s capital city is Bucharest.
See also Romania’s Top Trading Partners, Moldova’s Top 10 Exports, Hungary’s Top 10 Exports and Poland’s Top Trading Partners<
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: Romania. Accessed on July 28, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, Romanian Leu (RON) To US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate History. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 28, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 28, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Romania. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Romania. Accessed on July 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 28, 2025