Bulgaria Industrial Output Contracts Further

Bulgaria’s industrial production fell 6.7% year-on-year in December 2025, following a downwardly revised 9% decline in November and extending a year-long streak of contraction. Manufacturing output continued to fall, though at a slower pace (-1.4% vs -4.3% in November), mainly reflecting sharp declines in food products (-10.4% vs -8.9%), textiles (-12.3% vs -0.6%), wood products (-11.4% vs -13.6%), and paper and paper products (-15.8% vs -23.3%). Activity also dropped markedly in mining and quarrying (-22.3% vs 12.5%), driven by steep contractions in coal and lignite output (-74.3% vs -51.6%) and metal ores (-12.4% vs 27.2%). Meanwhile, production in electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply remained in negative territory, though the decline moderated (-14.1% vs -43.4%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, industrial output rose 0.3%, ending two consecutive months of declines of 1.4% in November and 2.4% in October.

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.