Bulgarian steel performance improves in second quarter

Bulgaria’s steel industry saw its main indicators improve during the second quarter, Kallanish notes. Crude steel and finished products output each rose compared to the previous three months and year-on-year, the Bulgarian Association of Metallurgical Industries (BAMI) says in its latest quarterly report.

Crude steel output reached 150,000 tonnes in Q2, up 8.6% over January-March and 7.2% higher compared to the same period of last year. First-half crude steel production reached 288,100t, up 1.3% over January-June 2021.

Meanwhile, finished products output rose by 11.6% on-quarter to 317,300t, and was also 35,100t more year-on-year. Of this volume, long steel production was 249,200t, up 13.5% over the previous quarter and 14.7% higher y-o-y.

Q2 flat steel output reached just 68,100t, an increase of 8.8% and 1.6% over Q1 and on-year, respectively.

Six-month rolled products output totalled 601,600t, a growth by 7.5% y-o-y.

Bulgaria’s April-June steel exports rose by 13.2% on-quarter to 226,400t and were also 4.4% higher when compared to the 216,900t shipped abroad in Q2 2021. Long steel exports represented 167,900t of overall shipments. H1 exports reached 426,900t, up 4.2% y-o-y.

Domestic demand, meanwhile, slowed in the period. Q2 steel sales were down by 6.2% q-o-q and 10% on-year to 61,800t. Six-month sales totalled 130,500t, or 2,200t more over H1 2021, BAMI confirms.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria