2026.07.1008:12:16UTC+00Bulgaria Industrial Production Drops 4.8%

Bulgaria’s industrial production fell by 4.8% year-on-year in May 2026, following a downwardly revised 3.8% decline in April, signalling a deepening contraction in the sector.

Manufacturing output weakened markedly, shrinking by 3.9% after a marginal 0.3% decline in April. The deterioration was led by steep drops in the production of fabricated metal products, excluding machinery and equipment (-32.1%), leather and related products (-31.8%), and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (-23.7%). Mining and quarrying activity also remained severely depressed, recording a 33.0% fall, only slightly better than April’s 33.6% decline.

In contrast, output in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply segment rebounded, rising 8.8% year-on-year after a 10.3% decrease in April.

By main industrial grouping, contractions deepened across several categories: investment goods output dropped 18.2% (vs. -11.8% in April), intermediate goods declined 6.2% (vs. -5.9%), and consumer durables fell 12.5% (vs. -3.2%). Meanwhile, growth in energy goods strengthened to 9.1% from 6.6%, and output of consumer non-durable goods increased at a broadly similar pace to the previous month, up 0.4% compared with 0.7% in April.

On a monthly, seasonally adjusted basis, industrial production slipped by 0.2% in May, marking a second consecutive decline following a 4.6% drop in April.