Abstract:

The paper aimed to analyze the trends and efficiency in Romania's international trade with silk using the empirical data provided by the ITC and UN Comtrade for the period 2012-2016 and a large variety of indicators and methods such as index method, descriptive analysis, parabolic regression function, coefficient of determination. Romania comes on the 4th position with 4 % market in the world silk export value, after China, Italy and India, and also comes on the 4th position in the world silk import value with 6.38 % market share after Italy, India and Japan. In the analyzed period, the silk export value increased by 10.81 %, accounting for USD 85,559 thousand, and the silk import value increased by 32.86 %, reaching USD 144,553 thousand in the year 2016. The general trend is an increasing one in the both cases. The highest share in the export value was achieved by Silk yarn 75.61 %, Woven fabrics 15.10 % and Raw silk 8.42 %, representing over 99 %. In the import value, Raw silk, Woven fabrics and Silk yarn had the highest share: 74.82 %, 18.45 % and respectively, 5.54 %, all together summing 98.88 %. Silk yarn is the only product with  a positive trade balance, while all the others have a negative trade balance, which caused the deficit of the silk trade balance, making Romania a net importing country. In 2016, the deficit was  -USD 28,994 thousand, 3.21 times higher than in 2012. This was also proved by the subunit index of coverage degree of import by export. Trade volume, trade volume per inhabitant, export/inhabitant and import per inhabitant registered an ascending trend,  being a positive aspect related to the efficiency of silk trade. In addition, the export price/import price ratio by silk product has advantaged Romania. The main trade partners are the EU-28 for export (99.94 % market share)and for import China (61.76 %) and the EU-28 (38.08 %). As a conclusion, Romania's international trade with silk is continuously developing, but it is relatively efficient, as long as the trade balance is a negative one. The future trade policy must  maintain the actual markets but also to extend them, to get the advantage of a higher export price by silk product, to deliver high quality products in order assure a higher competitiveness and efficiency in Romania's international trade with silk.