ANALYSIS Lidl has become the largest German company in Romania. Bucharest, Brasov and Prahova account for half of the German business in the whole country

Germany is Romania’s largest trading partner and one of the largest foreign investors in Romania, with important businesses in trade, manufacturing and IT. The capital, Brasov and Prahova are the poles of German investment in Romania, and the top of the largest companies is led by companies in the trade and automotive sectors, with Lidl becoming the leader last year, according to an Economedia analysis based on data obtained from the Trade Register.

A total of 8,070 German majority-owned companies were active in Romania in 2020, according to data provided by the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC) for Economedia. This is double the number in 2018, when 4,200 companies in Romania had German majority capital.

The 4,530 German companies that filed their balance sheets last year reported business of more than 135.5 billion lei (€27 billion) in 2020, according to information provided by the ONRC.

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The main sector where German investment stands out by turnover in 2020 is wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, a reversal from previous years. More than 1,900 German companies in this sector in Romania have a combined turnover of 64.9 billion lei.

The manufacturing industry, which led the top in previous years, is now only in second place, with a turnover of 57.6 billion lei from 1,025 companies.

The top three sectors are information and communications, with more than 3 billion lei in business from 528 companies.

The net profit of companies with a direct, majority German shareholding was more than 6.5 billion lei (€1.3 billion) last year, while the loss amounted to 1.09 billion lei.

At the same time, companies controlled by German investors employed more than 201 thousand people in Romania in 2020.

Top 20 German companies in Romania

The top German companies in Romania is led, as in previous years, by firms in the trade sector.

For the first time, Lidl became the leader in the Romanian food retail market last year and is also the largest German company in Romania by turnover. The company reported last year a turnover of 12.86 billion lei, narrowly beating Kaufland, part of the same German group, which had previously been the clear leader. Lidl made a net profit of 756 million lei last year, with an average of 8,779 employees.

Kaufland, ranked second in the top German companies in Romania, reported last year a turnover of 12.83 billion lei, but remained the most profitable German company in our country, reporting a net profit of 970 million lei, with an average number of 13,108 employees.

Third place in the ranking is occupied by British American Tobacco (Romania) Trading SRL controlled by British American Tobacco (Hamburg International), which reported last year a turnover of 11.3 billion lei, a net profit of 138 million lei and an average number of 813 employees.

Another company in the automotive sector, Star Assembly in Alba, also made the top list, with a turnover of 7.3 billion lei last year, a net profit of 242 million lei and an average of 1,746 employees.

The Rewe Group, present in Romania through the Penny chain of stores, is in 5th place, with a turnover of 4.7 billion lei, a net profit of 85 million lei and 5,213 employees.

The top 10 is completed by Bosch, Selgros, Autoliv, Hella and Schaeffler.

Map of German investments in Romania

The capital leads the top of German-owned companies in terms of turnover, with the 1,654 companies registered here totaling 44 billion lei, a third of all German businesses in Romania. Brasov is also an important pole of German investment, with 501 companies with a total turnover of 15.3 billion lei. The top is completed by Prahova, where 167 companies reported business of 13.5 billion lei. Thus, these three counties account for half of the German business in Romania.

At the other end of the scale, Vaslui and Teleorman have only 13 and 11 companies with a majority German shareholding, respectively, with a turnover of 1.2 and 1.5 million lei.

Source: Economedia/ONRC

German companies increasingly interested in Romania

German companies continue to find Romania a favorable environment for doing business. Last year, a total of 321 companies with German majority capital were registered in Romania, according to data provided by the ONRC at the request of Economedia. The months of March, April and May 2020 were marked by a low number of registrations, in a context where the whole economy was in lockdown.

In contrast, this year, from January to August, the number of registrations of companies with German majority capital has already reached 329, exceeding the total number of registrations last year.

Germany, Romania’s top trading partner
Romania’s top trading partner is dominated by Germany, from which our country brings in the largest imports of goods, but to which it also sends the largest exports, according to Eurostat data for 2020.

Some 21% of Romania’s €16.7 billion worth of goods imports come from Germany. Italy also sends goods worth €7.2 billion (9.2%), while Hungary imports €5.9 billion (7%), according to Eurostat data for 2020. China is only fourth, with Romania importing goods worth €5.1 billion, followed by Poland, from which we import €5 billion.

In terms of the destination of Romanian exports, the main countries are Germany (23%, €14.1 billion), Italy (11%, €6.7 billion), France (7%, €4.2 billion), Hungary (5%, €3.1 billion) and Poland (4%, €2.3 billion).

According to the latest data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), trade volumes between Germany and Romania recovered significantly in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period last year. Exports to Romania amounted to €9 billion, up more than 24% compared to the same period last year, while imports rose to €7.4 billion, up 17.2%.

With a trade volume of €16.4 billion, up 20.5% in the first six months of the year, Romania ranked 20th among Germany’s trading partners in the period.

Germany, top foreign investor in Romania
Germany is also the largest foreign investor in Romania, according to the latest data published by the National Bank of Romania (NBR).

In 2019, German foreign direct investment in Romania amounted to €88.3 billion, i.e. almost 15% of total foreign direct investment.

Austria ranked second, with investments of over €10 billion (11.4% of total FDI), followed by France, with investments of €8.3 billion (9.5% of total FDI).