From ground drones to aircraft parts — a handful of provincial towns have attracted high-value manufacturing where state factories once employed thousands.
Former communist industrial sites now host manufacturers of auto parts, drones and aircraft components.
Reindustrialisation succeeded where infrastructure, skilled labour and transport links were already in place.
Towns lacking these conditions remain mired in demographic and economic decline.
The Belgian food ingredients group plans to open the new plant in autumn 2026, but its Central and Eastern Europe director says the real challenges are only beginning.
Puratos is investing over €15 million in a new factory near Bucharest, due for completion in autumn 2026.
The facility will serve both the Romanian market and the Central and Eastern European region.
The regional director warns that higher prices and lower volumes in some segments are coming.
Retailer Ax Perpetuum, controlled by businessman Dan Pitic, is acquiring a majority stake in a road freight company with revenues of around 8 million lei.
Ax Perpetuum, Dan Pitic's firm, is buying 82.72% of Grup Bianca Trans.
The freight carrier posts revenues of nearly 8 million lei from road transport.
The owner of Argeș-based construction firm Conarg has assembled a group of business partners around a shared love of flying and launched an aircraft charter company.
The Vișoiu family (Conarg) has founded a private aircraft charter company.
Shareholders include the owners of Cosmopolis and Rovere Mobili.
The venture targets personal and leisure flights; financial details have not been disclosed.
Everest Metal Industries, a Gulf leader in industrial metal structures, secured European market access last year and has chosen Romania as its entry point.
Dubai-based Everest Metal Industries has officially entered the Romanian market.
The company gained European market access rights in 2025.
EMI is among the leading Persian Gulf firms in industrial metal structures.
The free zone port in Sulina is nearly ready to operate. Its director sees Ukrainian agricultural exports and postwar reconstruction logistics as the key opportunities.
Quay, platform and access road are complete; dredging and lighthouse restoration remain.
AZL bets on Ukrainian grain transit and postwar reconstruction logistics.
The port has not operated at meaningful capacity for several decades.
Irineu Darău (USR), Economy Minister in the caretaker Bolojan government, dismissed the myth of total industrial self-sufficiency often invoked through nostalgia for communist-era industry.