site.btaBulgaria Ranks Third in EU in Industrial Production Decrease in January 2024, Y/Y

Industrial production in Bulgaria went down by 7.6% in January 2024 year-on-year, ranking Bulgaria third among the EU Member States in terms of the largest annual decrease following Ireland (-34.1%) and Estonia (-8.6%), according to Eurostat data released on Wednesday. In December 2023, industrial output went down by 5.4% compared with December 2022 and by 12% compared with November 2023.

In January 2024, Bulgarian industrial production decreased by 2.5% month-on-month. In December 2023, it increased by 4%, up from -4.4% in November.

From a year-on-year perspective, in January 2024, industrial production decreased by 21% for durable consumer goods, by 10% for capital goods, by 7.4% for non-durable consumer goods, and by 1.3% for energy.

In the EU, seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased by 2.1% in January 2024 month-on-month. In the euro area, it went down by 3.2%.

In December 2023, industrial production grew by 1.6% in both the euro area and the EU.

Industrial production decreased by 6.7% in the euro area and by 5.7% in the EU in January 2024 year-on-year.

Monthly comparison by main industrial grouping and by EU Member State

In the EU in January 2024, compared with December 2023, industrial production increased by 2.9% for intermediate goods and by 0.6% for energy. It decreased by 12.8% for capital goods, by 0.1% for durable consumer goods, and by 0.5% for non-durable consumer goods.

In the euro area, industrial production increased by 2.6% for intermediate goods and by 0.5% for energy. Industrial output went down by 14.5% for capital goods, by 1.2% for durable consumer goods, and by 0.3% for non-durable consumer goods.

Among EU Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly decreases were recorded in Ireland (-29.0%), Malta (-9.4%), and Estonia (-6.6%). The highest increases were observed in Poland (+13.3%), Slovenia (+10.6%), and Lithuania (+7.2%).

Annual comparison by main industrial grouping and by EU Member State

In January 2024, industrial production in the EU decreased year-on-year for all major industry groups: intermediate goods (-3.3%), capital goods (-10.1%), durable consumer goods (-8.1%), and non-durable consumer goods (-1.3%), except for the energy sector, where industrial output grew by 0.6%.

A similar trend is observed in industrial production in the euro area in January 2024, compared with January 2023. An increase was recorded only in the energy sector (+0.3%), while industrial output decreased for intermediate goods (-2.5%), capital goods (-12.1%), durable consumer goods (-8.4%) and non-durable consumer goods (-3.1%).

The highest increases were observed in Slovenia (+12.2%), Greece (+10.5%) and Denmark (+5.3%).