Trade lanes

What Bulgaria buys, and from whom.

Bulgaria imported USD 37bn of manufactured and processed goods in 2024, down 2 per cent on 2022. These are its twenty largest source countries. 10 of them ship enough, across enough product lines, to have a lane page of their own.

Trade year 2024, compared with 2022.

By source

The twenty countries Bulgaria imports most from.

A lane page is written where the source ships USD 1bn or more a year across at least 50 product lines worth USD 1m each. For what Bulgaria is best placed to make itself, see Made here: Bulgaria.

  1. 1

    China

    Share of Bulgaria's imports15 per cent
    Changeup 68 per cent on 2022
    USD 5.5bnin 2024
  2. 2

    Germany

    Share of Bulgaria's imports13 per cent
    Changedown 9 per cent on 2022
    USD 4.8bnin 2024
  3. 3

    Turkey

    Share of Bulgaria's imports10 per cent
    Changedown 4 per cent on 2022
    USD 3.5bnin 2024
  4. 4

    Italy

    Share of Bulgaria's imports7 per cent
    Changedown 9 per cent on 2022
    USD 2.4bnin 2024
  5. 5

    Romania

    Share of Bulgaria's imports4 per cent
    Changedown 38 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.4bnin 2024
  6. 6

    Poland

    Share of Bulgaria's imports4 per cent
    Changedown 14 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.4bnin 2024
  7. 7

    France

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changeup 9 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.1bnin 2024
  8. 8

    Greece

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 25 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.1bnin 2024
  9. 9

    Czech Republic

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 6 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.1bnin 2024
  10. 10

    Netherlands

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 49 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.1bnin 2024
  11. 11

    Hungary

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 36 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 966min 2024
  12. 12

    United States

    Share of Bulgaria's imports3 per cent
    Changeup 190 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 912min 2024
  13. 13

    Ukraine

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 23 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 853min 2024
  14. 14

    Austria

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 36 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 737min 2024
  15. 15

    Spain

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 35 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 630min 2024
  16. 16

    Switzerland

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 72 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 597min 2024
  17. 17

    United Kingdom

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 46 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 573min 2024
  18. 18

    Serbia

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 1 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 559min 2024
  19. 19

    Belgium

    Share of Bulgaria's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 43 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 552min 2024
  20. 20

    Vietnam

    Share of Bulgaria's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 254 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 467min 2024
What this record says

What crossed the border, what it was worth, and what it weighed.

Every figure on this page is from CEPII's BACI file, which reconciles what each pair of countries reports to the UN about the same shipment. Trade year 2024, compared with 2022. A line is one six-digit customs heading (HS 2022). Values are in US dollars at the border; growth is in current dollars, so part of any change is price, not volume.

Unit value. Unit values are customs values per tonne, declared at the border, not product prices. It is the value of a line divided by its declared weight, so it mixes grades, models and qualities under one heading. It is shown only where the weight is recorded, at least three source countries of USD 100k or more ship the line to Bulgaria with a weight, and the figure sits within a factor of five of the middle of those sources. Outside that band it is treated as a recording problem and left out.

Share is China's part of everything Bulgaria imported in that line, from every source. Sources counts the countries that shipped any of it.

Scope. Manufactured and processed goods, customs chapters 16 to 96, without ores, fuels, precious metals, scrap, raw farm output and one-off capital and defence purchases: the same rule as the Made here pages.

What it does not say

A record of trade, not a shopping list.

What this record does not say: what sells at retail, what margin a trade leaves, how crowded the marketplaces are, or how much of a flow is re-exported through entrepots such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

A large line is not proof of an opening, and a lower unit value from another country is not proof the goods are the same. Tariffs, standards, freight, payment terms, lead times and the plain fact that a supplier is good at it are all invisible here. Nothing on this page is a forecast, a recommendation or a promise. No supplier company is named, because the record holds none.

Source: CEPII BACI, HS22, version 202601. Edition of 2026-11-03.