China–Bulgaria Trade Pulse
Imports into Bulgaria from China were €1.29bn in Q2 2026, up 49.1% on the same quarter of 2025. A quarterly read of Eurostat's official trade statistics for imports into Bulgaria from China, published by Cambridge China Bridge. It updates automatically when Eurostat publishes a new quarter.
Q2 2026, compared with Q2 2025
- Imports from China
- €1.29bn
- Change on a year earlier
- +49.1%
- Product chapters traded
- 92
Data brief: Q2 2026
Imports into Bulgaria from China were €1.29bn in Q2 2026, up 49.1% (€426m) on Q2 2025.
Top 3 rising headings
- Electric accumulators (HS 8507): €336m, up 377.2% from €70m
- Electrical transformers, static converters (HS 8504): €67m, up 204.2% from €22m
- Self-propelled bulldozers, angledozers, graders, levellers, scrapers,… (HS 8429): €6m, up 99.3% from €3m
Top 3 falling headings
- Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled,… (HS 1518): €3m, down 64.2% from €9m
- Articles of iron or steel, n.e.s. (HS 7326): €4m, down 45.0% from €8m
- Tools for working in the hand, pneumatic, hydraulic or with… (HS 8467): €5m, down 33.9% from €7m
Headings (HS4) worth at least €3m in both quarters.
Among these six headings, value per kg runs from €1.12 for Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled,… to €9.51 for Electrical transformers, static converters. Why € per kg matters →
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Bulgaria Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/bulgaria/briefs/2026-q2/. Source: Eurostat (Comext, DS-045409); quarterly totals, changes and value per kg calculated by Cambridge China Bridge. Open data:https://github.com/bonoxu/camchinabridge-open-data
What stands out
- Imports into Bulgaria from China were €1.29bn in Q2 2026, up 49.1% on the same quarter of 2025.
- That is the highest Q2 total since the series starts in 2019.
- Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof was the largest chapter at €613m.
- The fastest-rising large heading was Electric accumulators, up 377.2% to €336m.
- The steepest fall was Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled,…, down 64.2% to €3m.
- Among the largest chapters, value per kg runs from €1.00 for Iron and steel to €34.62 for Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,…
How to read this
- Figures are imports into the member state from China as recorded by that country's customs and published by Eurostat, in euros. Goods that clear customs in one EU country and travel on to another are counted where they were declared, so a port country such as the Netherlands or Belgium records goods consumed elsewhere.
- Each quarter is the sum of three published months and is compared with the same quarter a year earlier, so seasonal patterns (Chinese New Year, the run-up to Christmas) do not show as rises or falls.
- A heading only counts as a mover when it was large in both quarters; the threshold is stated under each table.
- Value per kg is value divided by net mass. It ranks products; it is not a freight rate.
Every quarter since 2019
Across 2025 as a whole, imports into Bulgaria from China were €4.03bn, up 28.8% on 2024 and up 165.6% on 2019.
| Year | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | €401m | €346m | €385m | €385m | €1.52bn |
| 2020 | €383m | €362m | €407m | €407m | €1.56bn |
| 2021 | €477m | €460m | €597m | €583m | €2.12bn |
| 2022 | €722m | €778m | €901m | €796m | €3.20bn |
| 2023 | €681m | €717m | €714m | €577m | €2.69bn |
| 2024 | €634m | €727m | €887m | €881m | €3.13bn |
| 2025 | €917m | €868m | €1.03bn | €1.22bn | €4.03bn |
| 2026 | €1.54bn | €1.29bn | – | – | – |
Quarterly totals on the same basis as the headline figure. A full-year total appears once all four quarters are published.
The largest product chapters
| Code | Product | Value | Change | € per kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof | €613m | +120.5% | €9.55 |
| 84 | Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances | €224m | +12.4% | €6.28 |
| 94 | Furniture | €65m | +35.3% | €2.76 |
| 87 | Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and… | €39m | +19.8% | €7.31 |
| 90 | Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,… | €37m | +22.5% | €34.62 |
| 39 | Plastics and articles thereof | €35m | +25.1% | €1.83 |
| 29 | Organic chemicals | €33m | +9.7% | €4.63 |
| 73 | Articles of iron or steel | €28m | +17.8% | €1.94 |
| 95 | Toys, games and sports requisites | €19m | +9.6% | €5.95 |
| 76 | Aluminium and articles thereof | €14m | +45.3% | €7.31 |
| 72 | Iron and steel | €11m | −36.6% | €1.00 |
| 40 | Rubber and articles thereof | €10m | −10.5% | €3.22 |
Fastest-rising headings
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8507 | Electric accumulators | €336m | +377.2% |
| 8504 | Electrical transformers, static converters | €67m | +204.2% |
| 8429 | Self-propelled bulldozers, angledozers, graders, levellers, scrapers,… | €6m | +99.3% |
| 8470 | Calculating machines and pocket-size dimensions <= 170 mm x 100 mm x… | €7m | +97.4% |
| 8537 | Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped… | €11m | +86.3% |
| 8703 | Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the… | €15m | +78.9% |
| 7616 | Articles of aluminium, n.e.s. | €10m | +63.4% |
| 9028 | Gas, liquid or electricity supply or production meters | €7m | +58.5% |
Steepest falls
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1518 | Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled,… | €3m | −64.2% |
| 7326 | Articles of iron or steel, n.e.s. | €4m | −45.0% |
| 8467 | Tools for working in the hand, pneumatic, hydraulic or with… | €5m | −33.9% |
| 8421 | Centrifuges | €5m | −26.6% |
| 8541 | Diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices | €21m | −15.8% |
| 4011 | New pneumatic tyres, of rubber | €6m | −14.8% |
| 8516 | Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters | €9m | −12.7% |
| 9506 | Articles and equipment for general physical exercise, gymnastics,… | €4m | −12.5% |
Headings (HS4) worth at least €3m in both quarters.
Why € per kg matters
Freight is charged on space, so low-value, bulky goods are hard to bring in by part-container load without the landed cost rising sharply, while high-value, dense goods absorb freight easily. Value per kilogram is a quick way to see which of the goods Bulgaria imports from China suit small trial orders and which reward full containers.
Other member states
- Ireland €2.79bn, +12.9%
- Austria €2.07bn, +34.1%
- Belgium €10.46bn, +10.1%
- Croatia €453m, +14.7%
- Cyprus €406m, +59.0%
- Czechia €5.31bn, −7.5%
- Denmark €2.16bn, +7.9%
- Estonia €361m, +30.5%
- Finland €1.00bn, +13.2%
- France €12.34bn, +6.4%
- Germany €27.66bn, +10.4%
- Greece €1.66bn, +0.6%
- Hungary €3.93bn, +39.2%
- Italy €15.77bn, +1.8%
- Latvia €287m, +16.0%
- Lithuania €602m, +7.3%
- Malta €118m, +4.8%
- Netherlands €28.86bn, +7.5%
- Poland €10.63bn, +22.0%
- Portugal €1.67bn, +22.4%
- Romania €2.32bn, +6.1%
- Slovakia €1.17bn, +14.9%
- Slovenia €3.43bn, +13.2%
- Spain €12.46bn, +15.4%
- Sweden €2.72bn, +1.6%
Method and sources
- Source: Eurostat, Comext database, dataset DS-045409 (EU trade since 1988 by HS2-4-6 and CN8): reporter Bulgaria, partner China, imports, through Eurostat's free dissemination API.
- Values are in euros as Eurostat publishes them. Quarterly totals, changes on a year earlier, rankings and value per kg are calculated by Cambridge China Bridge from the monthly figures. Chapters 99 (other products) and 00 (confidential totals) are excluded.
- Eurostat revises recent months; the page is rebuilt monthly and always shows the latest figures Eurostat has published.
- Weight-based € per kg ranks categories; it does not measure freight cost directly, which depends on volume.
Source: Eurostat. Re-use of Eurostat data is authorised provided the source is acknowledged (Eurostat copyright notice). The figures on this page are aggregated and calculated from Eurostat's monthly data by Cambridge China Bridge. Journalists and researchers may quote them with a link to this page.
Download the Bulgaria figures (CSV)· Download the open dataset (GitHub)
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Bulgaria Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/bulgaria/. Source: Eurostat (Comext, DS-045409); quarterly totals, changes and value per kg calculated by Cambridge China Bridge.
See also
Buying from China for a business in Bulgaria?
These pages report trade figures only. For a product you want to source from China, tell us what you buy and we will reply with how we would approach it.
Monthly email
What changed for UK buyers from China, and when to act
One email at the start of each month. Every figure has an official source.
- Next month's HMRC customs exchange rates: USD, EUR, CNY
- Duty, anti-dumping and UK rule changes, with the date they apply
- Chinese New Year order deadlines, before they pass
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