Romania: manufacturing productivity, cost and AI adoption in 2026 data

Romania's manufacturing contracted in 2025 while its labour cost kept rising, and its factories report the lowest rate of AI use of the seven CEE countries we track.

Key figures: Romania vs EU-27

Source: Eurostat, dataset codes in the last column. Value added per worker is our calculation (gross value added ÷ employed persons). Labour cost is in EUR and includes exchange-rate effects.

Sector mix: the top five branches

Source: Eurostat nama_10_a64, B1G, current prices, 2023. Total manufacturing value added 2023: EUR 44,621 m. Share is our calculation. Rubber and plastic products (2,829) follow.

Food is almost a quarter of manufacturing value added. Automotive is second, and much of the electrical equipment, metal and plastics output feeds it. Textiles, apparel and leather still rank third, a larger share than in any other country in this report with published data for the branch.

Where the industry is

• Automotive. Industry data cited in April 2026 put automotive at 13.2% of GDP and 33% of exports, with more than 220,000 employees in more than 630 companies. These are industry-association figures, not cross-checked against the national statistics institute (INS).
• Assembly plants. Two: Dacia in Mioveni (Argeș) and Ford Otosan in Craiova (Dolj).
• Supplier clusters. Timiș and Arad in the West, Brașov, Sibiu and Mureș in the Centre, plus Argeș and Dolj around the two assembly plants. Arad–Timișoara is described by suppliers as an automotive hotspot.
• Enterprises. Eurostat counts 78,194 manufacturing enterprises for 2023 (sbs_ovw_act).

The pressure on Romanian plants

Labour cost. Hourly labour cost in manufacturing rose from €9.6 in 2023 to €10.8 in 2024 and €12.0 in 2025, +25.0% (Eurostat lc_lci_lev). The EU-27 rose 9.0%. Romania is still the second-cheapest of the seven countries after Bulgaria (€10.2), but the gap to Hungary (€15.6) and Poland (€17.1) is no longer what it was.

Output. Manufacturing value added fell 3.7% in 2025 and employment 4.3% (Eurostat nama_10_a10, nama_10_a10_e). Value added per worker therefore barely moved, +0.6%, while hourly labour cost rose 11.1% (our calculation; nominal EUR, different denominators). Whole-economy productivity per hour did improve, from 72.6 to 75.6 against an EU-27 index of 100 (Eurostat tesem160), above Poland and Hungary. Manufacturing is not where that gain came from in 2025.

Energy. €0.207/kWh excluding VAT for a plant in the 2,000–19,999 MWh band in the second half of 2025, above the EU-27 average of €0.192 (Eurostat nrg_pc_205).

People. The manufacturing job vacancy rate was 0.5% in 2025, the lowest of the seven countries and a third of the EU-27 rate (Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2). With employment falling, the issue for most plants is wage cost and specific skills, not unfilled positions.

Customers. With automotive at a third of exports on industry figures, a slowdown at Western OEMs reaches Romanian suppliers quickly, and so do their price-down and reporting demands.

Digital and AI maturity

3.2% of Romanian manufacturers with 10+ employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, up from 1.3% in 2024 (Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2). It is the lowest of the seven countries in this report and less than a fifth of the EU-27 figure of 17.3%. Across all sectors the rate is 5.2%. The 2025 survey asked broader questions, so part of the increase is methodological.

Basic digitalisation is less of a problem. 69.9% of Romanian enterprises reached at least a basic level of digital intensity in 2024, close to the EU-27 73.7% (Eurostat isoc_e_dii). Much of that progress came from basic tools such as e-invoicing. Basic office digitalisation is not the same as shop-floor data.

On the employee side, PwC's Hopes and Fears 2025 survey found that 44% of Romanian employees had used AI in the previous year, against 57% globally (41st of 48 countries), and 6% used generative AI daily against 14%. It measures individual employees across sectors, not factories.

What this means for a mid-size plant in Romania

• Plan for cost, not for cheap labour. A 25% rise in two years changes quote assumptions. Rebuild your standard cost with 2025 labour rates and see which part numbers no longer make margin.
• Start with stop data on one line. Record every stop on your bottleneck with a reason, on paper or a spreadsheet, for a few weeks. It shows whether breakdowns, changeovers, micro-stops or scrap cost you most, and whether automated capture would pay.
• Skip AI as a first project. At 3.2% adoption there is little local experience to copy, and most models need a history of machine states and stop reasons that few plants hold. Collecting that history is the useful first step.
• Watch energy per part. At €0.207/kWh, idle load on large consumers is worth measuring alongside stops.
• Compare suppliers. Romanian options include Senior Software and a number of local integrators, as well as international vendors. Disclosure: manufacturingml.com is published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which sells production-monitoring and OEE software. It has an office in Bucharest (TEEPTRAK SRL), which is where enquiries from this site go. Compare on data ownership, integration and local support.

Trade fairs, 2026–2027

Sources: metalshow-tib.ro; gds.ro. We list only dates confirmed by organisers.

Funding

In Romania most digitalisation support now runs through the eight regional programmes 2021–2027, such as the Centru region's Action 2.2 Întreprinderi digitale; we track status, eligibility and deadlines, dated and linked to the official agency, on factoryoptimizationai.com/cee/ — check the current call documentation before you plan around any of it.

• CEE 2026 data report: all seven countries compared
• Poland country profile
• Czechia country profile
• Hungary country profile
• Slovakia country profile
• Bulgaria country profile
• Slovenia country profile
• CEE Manufacturing Data Pack 2026 (xlsx)

Questions

How productive is Romanian manufacturing compared with the EU?

Value added per manufacturing worker was €32.1k in 2025, about 36% of the EU-27 figure of €89.3k (our calculation from Eurostat nama_10_a10 and nama_10_a10_e, nominal EUR). Whole-economy productivity per hour, adjusted for price levels, was 75.6 against an EU-27 index of 100 (Eurostat tesem160, 2025).

Why did Romanian manufacturing shrink in 2025?

Eurostat data show the size of the fall — value added −3.7% and employment −4.3% (nama_10_a10, nama_10_a10_e) — but not its causes. We have not verified a breakdown by branch for 2025, so we do not attribute it to any sector.

How many Romanian manufacturers use AI?

3.2% of manufacturers with 10+ employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, less than a fifth of the EU-27 average of 17.3% (Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2). The 2025 survey was broader than 2024's, so the rise from 1.3% overstates real growth.

How fast is manufacturing labour cost rising in Romania?

From €9.6 an hour in 2023 to €12.0 in 2025, +25.0%, against +9.0% in the EU-27 (Eurostat lc_lci_lev). Figures are in EUR.

Sources

1. Eurostat nama_10_a10 (2024–2025)
2. Eurostat nama_10_a10_e (2024–2025)
3. Eurostat nama_10_a64 (2023)
4. Eurostat sbs_ovw_act (2023)
5. Eurostat isoc_eb_ai (2024–2025)
6. Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2 (2024–2025)
7. Eurostat isoc_e_dii (2024)
8. Eurostat lc_lci_lev (2023–2025)
9. Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 (2024–2025)
10. Eurostat tesem160 (2024–2025)
11. Eurostat nrg_pc_205 (2025-S2)
12. The Bridge of Friendship: The Romanian automotive industry in the eye of a perfect storm (Apr 2026)
13. Huf Group: Arad and Timișoara automotive hotspot
14. Romania Insider: PwC Hopes and Fears 2025 (Dec 2025)
15. Metal Show & TIB
16. GDS: Metal Show & TIB 2026, 12–15 May

Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software, with an office in Bucharest (TEEPTRAK SRL). Figures are sourced on each page. Funding rules change: check the official call documents before you budget.