PUTRAJAYA: Romania's exports to Malaysia rose substantially, since January, growing by a whopping 355 per cent.
Romanian ambassador to Malaysia Nineta Bărbulescu said her country's exports to Malaysia totalled RM394 million for the first five months this year.
"This is based on information from the Malaysian Department of Statistics, where Romania now ranks second in the European Union (EU) for exports to Malaysia.
"Imports to Romania from Malaysia, on the other hand, increased by 63 per cent, the third highest growth among the EU member states.
"Romanian exports to Malaysia increased mainly in mineral products, electrical machinery, wood products, optical products and aircraft parts.
"Meanwhile the imports from Malaysia to Romania are mainly in machinery, rubber and palm oil, with still a high potential for solar panels made in Malaysia," she told the New Straits Times.
Nineta added that May was the first month over the last decade with bilateral trade turning into a positive balance in Romania's trade with Malaysia.
She said it was a good momentum nurtured inter alia by their recent contacts at the working level with the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation's representatives in Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul, Turkey.
"I also visited and initiated trade talks to the Malaysian international ports of Klang, Lumut and Butterworth, to further boost bilateral trade," Nineta said.
She added that the unpredictable challenging times in the last two years during the global Covid-19 pandemic had greatly disrupted bilateral trade.
The situation, she added, was made worse by catastrophic Russian-Ukranian war since Feb 24 which disrupted cargo through vital channels.
"It is an utmost priority to use lower-cost options for expanding bilateral EU-Malaysian trade flows via Romania's Constanța Port and the Black Sea-Danube canal through the Danube river.
"This is also the cheaper route for trade in goods from and to Malaysia and a dozen of countries in the Eastern and central Europe, in particular the countries of the Danube River basin," Nineta said.
Nineta added that the Black Sea Port of Constanța handled more than 1 million tonnes of grains from Ukraine, which were meant for the international market.
"Constanța Port alone processes annually 100 million tonnes of grains, of which 20 per cent are meant for exports to African and Asian countries via the Danube River, Danube-Black Sea Canal and Port of Constanța," she said.