The decrease in consumption and the increase in costs will generate layoffs and exits from the market, especially among SMEs, in conditions in which companies are forced to adjust their activity to the decrease in sales, said on Friday, Feliciu Paraschiv, vice president of the National Association of Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurs in Romania (ANCMMR).
According to him, the reduction in consumption is starting to affect the food segment as well, which indicates a sharp deterioration in the economic situation.
"As for the decrease in consumption, in food, 2025 compared to 2024 decreased by 2.7%, considering that never since the 2008 crisis has food consumption decreased. First, customers give up fashion, vacations, entertainment, then non-food products, and only in the last phase, food products. In other words, we have reached the bottom of the bag," mentioned Feliciu Paraschiv, at the debate "What we learn from crises. The economy moves from tariff disorder to energy disorder", organized by CLCC - Coalition for Freedom of Trade and Communication.
He warned that the effects will be seen quickly on the labor market and companies have already started making layoffs.
"These things will also be reflected on the labor market, because the economy is starting to slow down. Large companies are already making layoffs. A company has two options: either lay off workers or raise prices. If it raises prices, it is no longer competitive and risks bankruptcy, so the solution remains to lay off staff. If you have a 20-30% drop in sales, you have to lay off 20-30% of your staff," explained the ANCMMR representative.
In his opinion, SMEs are the most vulnerable in this context.
"SMEs are feeling this change in cycle the most. Small and medium-sized businesses that depend on cash flow are affected by any change. In retail, we will probably see market consolidations and, unfortunately, market exits," Paraschiv said.
He also drew attention to the impact of energy costs and fuel prices.
"The price increase has two components: inflation, which is predictable, and the energy component - fuel and gas. If gasoline and diesel exceed 10 lei, we do not know how it will influence the final price. Agricultural production has not yet started working on expensive diesel. If the state does not intervene, it will be difficult. We somehow requested, together with the transporters, that the state should move a little on excise taxes, because it could temper the price of fuel from excise taxes, but it seems that they will move a little on excise taxes only for agriculture. There is nothing official yet," he said.
According to him, the consumer is becoming "a little more calculated".
"The private label is growing, offer and promotion hunters are appearing. Unfortunately, people with lower incomes, generally pensioners, and people who have time, run from store to store and look to buy a promotion from one store, another promotion from another store. The only thing that could somehow move us would be to try to increase domestic production and domestic product consumption," added the ANCMMR vice president.
At the same time, he criticized bureaucracy and the low level of competitiveness of domestic production.
"Excessive bureaucracy slows us down and does not make us competitive even with non-EU countries. It is almost impossible to obtain authorizations for the development of production capacities without very high costs," Feliciu Paraschiv also declared.
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