Industry revenue of »manufacture of basic iron, steel, ferro-alloys« in Bulgaria 2011-2023

Over the years, Bulgaria has been a major manufacturer and exporter of iron, steel and ferro-alloys with industry revenues totalling 836 million U.S. dollars in 2011. However, the market has been on the decline since then, with manufacturing revenues expected to drop to as low as 220 million U.S. dollars by 2023. One of the reasons for this sharp decline is falling demand in key sectors such as infrastructure and automotive due to Covid-19. Global supply and demand disruptions have resulted in a sharp retraction in business and consumer activity all across the world.

The slowdown is not unique to Bulgaria alone. Several steel mills in all of Europe including major manufacturing countries such as Germany and Italy are only operating at minimum capacity. In fact according to industry estimates, the year-on-year decline across Europe is expected to be in the region of around two million tons.