First increase in Bulgarian export after a year of decline

Following a year of decline, Bulgarian export finally started to grow again. This is shown by the preliminary data of the country’s National Statistical Institute (NSI). For the month of April, goods worth 3.65 billion euros were exported, which is an increase of 8% compared to April 2023.

This is the first monthly increase in exports since the first months of 2023 and is partly due to last year's low base. The value of Bulgarian exports in April is still below the summer records of 2022, which hit 4.25 billion euros thanks to the boost provided by inflation. It is also about 150 million euros below the value volume of exports for March.

NSI data show that the export growth is greater towards European Union countries - by 11.5%, whereas towards third countries it is only 2%.

In total, since the beginning of the year for the first four months, the annual decline of Bulgarian exports has been reduced to 3.8%. It is mainly due to the weak first months for exports to the countries of the European Union. The drop towards these countries reached 6.4% for the first four months, whereas exports to third countries grew by 0.9%.

Total exported goods for the first four months since the beginning of the year exceeded 14 billion euros, with a little under two-thirds going to the member states of the European Union, and the rest to third countries. Bulgarian exports to Gibraltar and Egypt grew significantly.

The NSI's detailed data for the European Union show values at the end of March. They demonstrate that Germany remains Bulgaria's main partner within the European Union. Romania returned to second place as an importer of Bulgarian goods in March, while Italy fell to third place. The last country, with over 500 million euros worth of goods imported from Bulgaria, is Greece. All four, however, saw declines in the first quarter. However, exports to Croatia grew by about 50% - up to about 150 million euros for the first quarter.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov