According to the World Trade Organization, the export of goods from Bulgaria in 2022 is worth 50 239 million USD, which is an increase of 21.4% compared to 2021. The growth in imports is nearly 42% and the growth of the negative balance is 79% compared to 2021.
To put our export successes into perspective, we looked at the top 40 raw materials and commodities by multiplying 2022 volumes by 2021 prices. The result is 2 507 million USD less exports. This means that the growth in exports due to changed prices of raw materials and exchange goods is 6%. Fuels, electricity, natural gas, wheat and sunflower gain the most from the increased prices. On the other hand, commodities that were significantly higher in 2021 compared to 2022 were precious metal concentrates and copper.
The good news is that most of the commodities under consideration are seeing export growth in volume. It is the largest for fuels, sulfuric acid, sunflower oilcakes and oil, biodiesel and natural gas. Wheat, corn, electricity, barley, cement, some iron and steel products experienced a decrease in the amount of exports.
|
Goods |
Export 2022 |
Price |
Export of 2022 quantities at 2021 price |
Difference due to price |
|
|
million USD |
tons |
UDS/tons |
million USD |
million USD |
|
|
Medium heavy oils and fuels |
2151 |
1893298 |
636 |
1204 |
947 |
|
Light oils and preparations |
1771 |
1958832 |
619 |
1213 |
559 |
|
Cathode copper |
1622 |
183050 |
9333 |
1708 |
-86 |
|
Anode copper |
1436 |
131442 |
12975 |
1705 |
-270 |
|
Wheat |
1433 |
3985552 |
260 |
1036 |
397 |
|
Sunflower oil |
1404 |
787002 |
1370 |
1078 |
326 |
|
Biodiesel |
1307 |
696717 |
1633 |
1138 |
169 |
|
Electricity* MWh |
1011 |
4074836 |
109 |
444 |
567 |
|
Natural gas |
804 |
445281 |
890 |
396 |
408 |
|
Oilseed sunflower |
729 |
660228 |
940 |
621 |
108 |
|
Concen of precious metals |
570 |
4236 |
464906 |
1969 |
-1399 |
|
Copper sheets and strips >0,15mm |
343 |
33375 |
10046 |
335 |
8 |
|
Ammonium nitrate |
337 |
445838 |
398 |
177 |
160 |
|
Corn |
330 |
961984 |
265 |
255 |
75 |
|
Sunflower oilcake |
322 |
906543 |
300 |
272 |
50 |
|
Copper rods and profiles |
317 |
31789 |
10056 |
320 |
-3 |
|
Copper concentrates |
308 |
392105 |
983 |
385 |
-78 |
|
Rods of iron and steel |
304 |
347408 |
760 |
264 |
40 |
|
Refined sunflower oil |
256 |
123002 |
1598 |
197 |
59 |
|
Foil and strips of ethylene |
255 |
94313 |
2445 |
231 |
24 |
|
Other oils |
221 |
489195 |
316 |
155 |
67 |
|
Tubes and profiles of iron |
212 |
175466 |
1180 |
207 |
5 |
|
Calcined soda |
209 |
1080710 |
190 |
205 |
4 |
|
Fodder for animal food |
199 |
105447 |
1610 |
170 |
30 |
|
Flat-rolled products of iron and steel |
195 |
172218 |
888 |
153 |
42 |
|
Refined lead |
194 |
81920 |
2322 |
190 |
4 |
|
Scrap of iron and steel |
192 |
463057 |
403 |
187 |
6 |
|
Unwrought zinc |
185 |
48251 |
3151 |
152 |
33 |
|
Rods and profiles of aluminum |
173 |
32964 |
3820 |
126 |
47 |
|
Aluminum foil |
164 |
31620 |
3726 |
118 |
47 |
|
Sulfuric acid |
120 |
1138678 |
56 |
64 |
57 |
|
Articles of iron and steel |
114 |
39110 |
3381 |
132 |
-18 |
|
Primary polypropylene |
106 |
78736 |
1089 |
86 |
21 |
|
Flat glass |
104 |
188562 |
364 |
69 |
36 |
|
Tubes and profiles of iron |
95 |
69833 |
1271 |
89 |
6 |
|
Copper cables |
88 |
8851 |
10007 |
89 |
-1 |
|
Scrap of aluminum |
86 |
36720 |
1854 |
68 |
18 |
|
Rapeseed seeds |
80 |
123051 |
670 |
82 |
-3 |
|
Scrap of copper |
75 |
10854 |
6090 |
66 |
9 |
|
Anhydrous ammonia |
64 |
47398 |
534 |
25 |
39 |
*Electricity is in Megawatt hours and USD/Megawatt hour
Geography of the Bulgarian commodity exchange
Bulgaria is steadily linked to the European Union - over 65% of our trade is with EU countries, and over the last 5 years our negative balance with the EU has decreased from 1.5 to 0.5 billion euros.
In 2022 Bulgaria doubles its negative balance (i.e., buys more than it sells) with the Russian Federation, China and Turkey. Our negative balance with Ukraine is increased by 41% and the positive balance with the US is halved. Our trade with our neighbors Serbia and North Macedonia is relatively good.
Half of our negative balance for 2022 comes from energy.
|
Billions of euros |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
|
Export |
EU27 |
18.32 |
18.88 |
18.20 |
23.00 |
30.17 |
|
Turkey |
2.23 |
2.17 |
1.80 |
2.15 |
2.84 |
|
|
Serbia |
0.60 |
0.71 |
0.59 |
0.84 |
1.25 |
|
|
Ukraine |
0.19 |
0.34 |
0.23 |
0.41 |
1.14 |
|
|
USA |
0.54 |
0.57 |
0.56 |
0.87 |
1.04 |
|
|
China |
0.76 |
0.82 |
0.92 |
1.12 |
0.79 |
|
|
North Macedonia |
0.42 |
0.42 |
0.43 |
0.57 |
0.78 |
|
|
Russian Federation |
0.41 |
0.53 |
0.42 |
0.44 |
0.49 |
|
|
Import |
EU27 |
19.78 |
20.50 |
18.63 |
23.61 |
30.68 |
|
Russian Federation |
3.12 |
3.33 |
1.88 |
2.98 |
6.02 |
|
|
Turkey |
2.01 |
2.20 |
2.18 |
3.07 |
4.66 |
|
|
China |
1.32 |
1.52 |
1.56 |
2.12 |
3.20 |
|
|
Ukraine |
0.48 |
0.54 |
0.58 |
0.84 |
1.74 |
|
|
Serbia |
0.64 |
0.64 |
0.62 |
0.79 |
0.97 |
|
|
USA |
0.29 |
0.32 |
0.39 |
0.29 |
0.80 |
|
|
North Macedonia |
0.32 |
0.33 |
0.30 |
0.37 |
0.45 |
|
|
Balance |
Russian Federation |
-2.72 |
-2.81 |
-1.45 |
-2.54 |
-5.53 |
|
China |
-0.55 |
-0.70 |
-0.64 |
-1.00 |
-2.42 |
|
|
Turkey |
0.22 |
-0.03 |
-0.37 |
-0.92 |
-1.82 |
|
|
Ukraine |
-0.29 |
-0.19 |
-0.36 |
-0.43 |
-0.61 |
|
|
EU27 |
-1.46 |
-1.62 |
-0.43 |
-0.60 |
-0.51 |
|
|
Serbia |
-0.04 |
0.07 |
-0.04 |
0.05 |
0.28 |
|
|
North Macedonia |
0.10 |
0.10 |
0.13 |
0.20 |
0.33 |
|
|
USA |
0.25 |
0.24 |
0.17 |
0.58 |
0.25 |
Data source: www.trademap.org, April 2023
Authors: Vesselin Iliev and Borislav Georgiev – former chief directors of International Economic Relations Center at BIA
