Thursday, 28 May 2026
While the Romanian industrial and logistics sector continues to show resilience, the industry leaders invited to take part in the Industrial panel held at CEDER 2026 were also open to discuss the risks that could undermine future growth.
One of the pressing concerns is the industry’s perceived lack of preparation for technological disruption. Alina Necula, Country Manager at Lion’s Head, warns that the sector is currently “superficial” in its approach to artificial intelligence, stating: “I think we in Romania, in real estate especially, we need to build a muscle for artificial intelligence. We don’t have that (…) It’s very important to understand it.”
This technological gap is compounded by “labor erosion”, a risk where long-term tenants find their business models failing halfway through a lease due to a vanishing workforce. Necula notes that manufacturing tenants can realize “in year five that they don’t have people anymore”, making strategic location near urban hubs and universities critical for survival.
Economic pressures are also mounting, particularly regarding energy and regulation. Roland Hofman, Co-Founder and CEO of Urbanity, points to a massive disparity in utility costs that threatens European manufacturing: “the gas prices are five times higher than in the States. This is [a] huge disadvantage that the European market is facing. So, this is something that puts much higher pressure on productivity, on finding the efficiencies.”
Furthermore, Gijs Klomp, Business Development Manager of WDP Romania, warns that Romania may be losing its competitive edge as a “low-cost” destination. He argues that increasingly rigid regulations—such as fire safety standards—are driving up development costs and, consequently, rents. Klomp observes that “the development yields and especially profits in Romania are, I would say, lower than they are in other more core Central European markets. It’s not that there is a lot of margin that you can surrender, which means it goes into rent. If it goes into rent, it goes back into the economy as inflation. And I think there we have to be cautious to find that optimum curve because in the end people will look at many countries, there are many options, and they will make an assessment of what are the benefits of Romania. And one of the benefits we had was a cost benefit and we have lost that. And we need to make sure that either we go up the productivity curve and we can offer higher productivity, because then people can accept costs, or we have to try to keep costs under control.”
Finally, there is a pervasive fear regarding the execution of critical infrastructure and political stability. While the connection to the Moldova region is highly anticipated, there is concern that if projects are not delivered on time, developers could lose vital financing. Ana Dumitrache, CEO of Olympian Parks, identifies political risk as a primary concern, questioning “how much is fundamental and how much is created by the political games, including the cost of energy”.
