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
