Thursday, 28 May 2026
The experts invited to take part in the Industrial panel held at CEDER 2026 discussed the opportunities of growth present in the Romanian industrial and logistics market.
Ana Dumitrache, CEO of Olympian Parks, considers the market to be “underdeveloped” compared to regional peers like Poland and full of untapped potential for strategic expansion. She suggests that being behind in development is actually a “blessing” because it provides significant room for new, modern stock.
While the panel of experts acknowledges that demand has become more selective, it remains robust in specific niches, particularly for proximity-type developments near major cities that serve the “last mile” of logistics. Ana Dumitrache highlights the specific sectors that are currently in demand: “We see the demand coming a lot in these areas from the food industry, people who are actually delivering to the city. Pharma is again one sector where we’re having demand from. So, it’s this type of sectors which are still growing and especially coming closer to the cities with their logistics or changing the obsolete spaces they were occupying so far with more modern space.”
Beyond traditional logistics, manufacturing presents a significant opportunity for growth, particularly through near-shoring. Companies from high-cost countries like Germany, or those outside the EU wanting a foothold within the Union, are looking at Romania. This trend is expected to accelerate as infrastructure projects, specifically the long-awaited highway connection to the Moldova region, come to fruition. Gijs Klomp, Business Development Manager at WDP Romania observes: “A city like Iași is very interesting because you have a skilled labor force, you have an international airport. The only thing that was missing was a highway connection to bring the goods that you produce to the hinterland, to the markets, the consumer markets. And I think we will see that Moldova will start to develop because of that, clients will start seriously looking at that region.”
Growth in the current market is also being redefined by a shift toward operational efficiency. Modern tenants are increasingly preoccupied with the “total cost of occupation” rather than just base rent. The panelists indicate that developers can successfully charge for higher specifications if they result in lower utility costs. Klomp explains that if higher specs “bring added value for the customer in the sense that they are having benefits when it comes to energy consumption, (…) you have a case”.
Finally, the discussion suggests that the next phase of growth is tied to the digital and energy frontier. The electrical network is described as the “new highway”, essential for supporting the power-hungry requirements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data processing. Ana Dumitrache states: “I think there will be more and more demand for power, given the recent developments. I think we are all underestimating the power of AI and its recent developments and how much it will conquer our lives. And it will be necessary because it’s a huge amount of data, it needs to be processed and for that we need power. (…) The regions that have enough capacity, enough power and a stable network will be some poles of future development within the next five years.”
