Bulgaria's foreign trade in January-June 2009 stood at 26.6 billion leva at current prices, the National Statistical Institute said Tuesday. That is an year-on-year contraction by 33.4 per cent.

Exports in the first half totaled 10.6 billion leva, which is down by 30.3 per cent from this time last year. Imports stood at 16 billion leva (at CIF prices), or 35.3 per cent less than the like period of 2008.

Import remains bigger than export and the value of imported goods is 51.7 per cent bigger than that of exported goods.

However, the year-on-year contraction in value terms is more significant for imports than for exports.

The foreign trade shows a deficit of 5.5 billion leva (export at FOB prices and import at CIF prices) which is 4.1 billion leva less than the deficit in the the first half of 2008. The decrease reflects the shrinking foreign trade. Converted in FOB/FOB prices, the deficit stands at 4.7 billion leva.

The European Union remains the top trading partner of Bulgaria, keeping unchanged the situation of the recent years. More than half of the commercial exchange is with EU member states. Over 64 per cent of the goods exported by Bulgaria reach the EU markets and more than 60 per cent of the imports here originate in the EU.

Trade with the EU ran a deficit of 2.8 billion leva.

Trade with third countries totaled 10.2 billion leva and was 39.6 per cent smaller than this time last year. The contraction was 37.5 per cent for export and 40.7 per cent for import. The principal trading partners were Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and China (with a total of 53 per cent of all trade with third countries). Export to Ukraine and Turkey was down by 56 per cent, to Russia by 40 per cent, to China by 30 per cent and to Macedonia by close to 27 per cent. Import from the said countries has been shrinking as well: by 56 per cent for Ukraine and over 42 per cent for Russia, by less than 25 per cent for China and some 30 per cent for Turkey.

Unlike the exchange with all of the above nations, trade with Macedonia shows a surplus. The deficit with the whole group of third countries stands at 2.7 billion leva.

Source: BTA