Bulgaria's trade with the EU: Germany remains its most important partner
Bulgaria exported 11.6% more goods to the EU in January–July. According to the NSI statistics office, Germany tops the list of partners for both exports and imports.
Symbolic image · Photo: kuchin ster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria's goods exports to other EU countries rose sharply in the first seven months of 2026. According to preliminary data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) released on Monday, Oct. 12, Bulgarian companies shipped goods worth 17.69 billion euros to the EU from January to July, up 11.6% from the same period last year. Imports from the EU rose 6.1% to 18.68 billion euros, leaving a deficit of 983.6 million euros in trade with the bloc.
Germany tops the NSI's list of main export destinations, ahead of Romania, Italy, Greece and France. Together, these five countries took 68.0% of Bulgaria's exports to the EU. Germany also leads on imports, followed by Romania, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. The release does not give separate figures for Germany.
July was particularly strong: exports to the EU rose 19.4% year on year to 2.69 billion euros, while imports increased 5.0% to 2.77 billion euros. From January to July, the fastest growth came in exports of manufactured goods classified chiefly by material, up 46.1%.