Trends of the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Balance

In the first trimester of this year (January – March 2019), Bulgaria’s exports to EU countries increased by 7% compared to the same period in 2018. The amount of exported goods increased to a total of 4.9 billion euro. Bulgaria’s main trading partners are Germany, Romania, Italy, Greece, France and Belgium, which hold 67.3% of exports to EU countries. The sector of mineral fuels, mineral oils and all the products related to their distillation marks the greatest growth – 75.4% – while the one of oils, fats and waxes of animal or vegetable origin is declining of 8.4%. In this first trimester, imports from the EU also increased by 0.3% on an annual basis and reached to 5.01 billion euro. During this period, Bulgaria mainly imports from Germany, Italy, Romania, Greece and Hungary. The greatest growth in sales was recorded in the Beverage (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and Tobacco sector (+50%) and the largest drop was seen in the Raw materials sector (excluding fuels) which has decreased by 29.4%.

In the period January-April 2019, exports to non-EU countries grew by 14.7% compared to the same period in 2018 and amounted to 3.02 billion euro. Among the non-EU countries, Bulgaria has mainly exported to Turkey, China, Serbia, United States, Russian Federation and North Macedonia, which hold 51.9% of the total exports to non-EU countries. In non-EU countries, the largest growth is seen in the sectors of mineral fuels, mineral oils and all the products related to their distillation (54.8%) and of oils, fats and waxes of animal or vegetable origin (40.2%). In the period from January to April 2019, imports from non-EU countries grew by 9.1% and reached to 161.7 million euro. Bulgaria imports mainly from the Russian Federation, Turkey, China and Egypt. The largest growth was recorded again by the sectors of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and tobacco (32.3%), food and live animals (23.1%) and mineral fuels, mineral oils all the products related to their distillation (21.2%). The greatest drop is observed in the sector of oils, fats and waxes of animal or vegetable origin (-9.6%). In the January-April period total Bulgarian exports amounted to 9.54 billion euro and grew by 9.5% compared to the same period of 2018. In the same period the total Bulgarian imports amounted to 10.54 billion euro, or 4.6% growth on an annual basis. The total balance of foreign trade of the Country is negative, minus 994 million euro, while at FOB / FOB prices the balance is minus 277 million euro.