The Romanian metallurgical sector is reconfiguring, stable companies are resisting and even growing, and fragile ones are exiting the market, amid an industry that lost over 5 billion lei in turnover between 2023 and 2025, decreasing from 23.8 to 18.3 billion lei, according to a CITR analysis conducted on a sample of 285 companies.
The decrease is mainly caused by the difficulties of large primary steel producers, which reduced their turnover by a third, from 7.5 billion lei in 2023 to 2.6 billion in 2025, to which is added the exit of a number of small companies from the market.
“The data tells a story of selection, against the backdrop of declining overall figures. The major opportunity of the context is the European reconfiguration, which puts pressure on the sector and also opens a window of strategic demand for it. The difference between the companies that will catch it and those that will be left behind is decided now, in the balance sheet, not in two years, in court. The value lies, today, in taking advantage of the European context, of the SAFE funds, and acting while the options are still open,” says Paul-Dieter Cîrlănaru, CEO, CITR.
However, the overall picture does not reflect a generalized crisis, but a selection: solid companies resist, and vulnerable ones exit the market. Approximately 17% of the companies active in 2024 no longer report turnover in 2025. In contrast, the 222 companies that reported consistently in all three years analyzed recorded a slight increase between 2024 and 2025, of 3%, or 523 million lei. The contraction comes exclusively from the disappearance of fragile companies, not from the deterioration of stable ones.
The vulnerability of one segment becomes the advantage of another
The pressure hitting primary production – high energy costs and import competition – also explains the direction in which the healthy part of the sector is heading, towards added value.
Thus, the tubes, pipes and profiles segment has already surpassed primary ferrous production in turnover, by 6.25 billion lei, compared to 5.59 billion lei in 2024, and is the only one among the large subsectors that has maintained constant growth.
Aluminum metallurgy grew by 8% in 2025, to 5.57 billion lei. Moreover, the aluminum and processed products segments have a debt ratio more than half that of primary production, at 0.55x, compared to 1.31x, compared to turnover.
European context and opportunities for Romania
The European steel industry is going through its most difficult period in recent decades. High energy and carbon certificate costs, combined with a wave of imports fueled by a global overcapacity of over 600 million tons, led EU crude steel production to a historic low in 2025 — around 126 million tons.
The same European context, however, also generates the most important opportunity in the medium term. The SAFE (Security Action for Europe) instrument, part of the Readiness 2030 plan, mobilizes up to 150 billion euros for defense procurement. Romania has an indicative allocation of around 16.7 billion euros, and the eligibility rules prioritize products manufactured in the EU. The targeted equipment – military, naval, vehicles, ammunition, infrastructure – is steel and metal intensive, which transforms import pressure into a real demand for domestic production. In this context, restructuring mechanisms become the instruments through which viable companies can regain their investment capacity and eligibility for large-scale projects financed through SAFE.