Bulgaria Industrial Production Falls at Slower Pace

Bulgaria’s industrial production fell sharply by 9.3% year over year in November 2025, deepening from a revised 7.5% contraction in October and marking the twelfth consecutive month of declining activity. The downturn was the steepest since April, driven primarily by a collapse in energy goods output, which plunged 42.1% compared with a 10.3% decline in the previous month. Additional weakness was seen in non-durable consumer goods (-6.0% vs. -14.0%), capital goods (-2.5% vs. -2.4%), and consumer durable goods (-0.2% vs. 7.2%). In contrast, production of intermediate goods rose 3.1%, ending a ten-month streak of contraction. On a month-over-month basis, industrial output declined by 1.7% in November, following a 2.4% drop in October.

Bulgaria’s industrial production slipped 7.7% year-on-year in October 2025 from an upwardly revised 5.7% drop in the previous month. This marked the eleventh consecutive month of contraction, as declines deepened for the manufacturing sector (-6.5% vs -0.1% in September, particularly in the manufacture of food products (-22.4%), beverages (-15.2%), and chemical and chemical products (-14.4%). On the other hand, production contracted softer for mining and quarrying (-10.7% vs -18.9%) and electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply (-10.9% vs -25%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, industrial production fell by 2.1% in October, reversing a downwardly revised 2.9% gain in the preceding period.

Bulgaria’s industrial production declined 5.5% year-over-year in September 2025, easing from a revised 9.0% drop in August. This marked the tenth consecutive month of contraction, though the slowdown represented the weakest decline since February, supported by a smaller fall in energy output (-23.5% vs. -27.8% in August) and strong gains in investment goods (12.3% vs. -0.1%) and consumer durables production (4.5% vs. 4.6%). However, output continued to fall for intermediate goods (-7.1% vs. -4.9%) and consumer non-durables (-10.8% vs. -8.7%). On a seasonally adjusted basis, industrial production rose 3.3% in September, following a revised 0.3% increase in August.