Industrial production in Bulgaria in January decreased by 2.6% compared to the end of last year. Thus, the index went down again after the monthly growth in December, which came after two consecutive months of decline, it is clear from the preliminary and seasonally adjusted data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). On an annual basis, the adjusted industrial production index recorded a decline of 8.6% and this decline has been continuing for 14 consecutive months. In January compared to December, the NSI recorded a decline in the extractive industry - by 18.3%, as well as in the manufacturing industry - by 3.3%, while an increase was observed in the production and distribution of electricity, heat and gas - by 2.3%. A significant decline in the manufacturing industry was recorded in the production of electrical equipment - by 39.6%, the processing of leather; the production of footwear and other articles of treated leather without hair - by 23.2%, and in manufacturing not classified elsewhere - by 21%. The NSI reports growth in the production of basic metals - by 35%, and in the production of tobacco products - by 13.2%. On an annual basis, the NSI recorded a decline in industrial production, calculated from calendar-adjusted data, in the extractive industry - by 23.2%, in the production and distribution of electricity, heat and gas - by 18.6%, and in the manufacturing industry - by 5.3%. In the manufacturing industry, a significant decline compared to January 2025 was recorded by the NSI in: leather processing; production of footwear and other products from processed leather without hair - by 33.1%, production of vehicles, excluding cars - by 19.8%, and in the production of products from other non-metallic mineral raw materials - by 19.4%. The statistics report growth in the production of tobacco products - by 67.1%, and in the production of basic metals - by 44.1%.

The Ministry of Finance is placing 5-year government securities (GS) worth 150 million euros on Monday. The achieved weighted average annual yield is 3.03%., and the annual interest rate is 2.75%. Orders for 275.5 million euros have been admitted to the auction. The achieved coverage ratio is 1.84, and the average price of the orders admitted to the auction is 98.57 euros per 100 euros of nominal value. Orders in the amount of 150 million euros have been approved. This is the fifth auction for the sale of government securities on the domestic market since the beginning of 2026, BTA recalled. The total debt taken on in the domestic market since the New Year has reached 750 million euros.

Manufacturers of cement and other construction materials report another strong sales in 2024. The total revenues of the top 10 companies in the sector exceed 696.2 million euros and mark an 11.2% growth compared to 2023. All companies in the top 10 worked at a profit in 2024. For another year, the ranking by this indicator is headed by "Heidelberg Materials Devnya" (31.3 million euros), followed by "Holcim Bulgaria" - Beli Izvor village (23.6 million euros), and "Zlatna Panega Cement" (14.6 million euros). The largest employer is Holcim Bulgaria with 336 employees in 2024, and four more companies have over 200 employees: Hidrobeton (248), Knauf Bulgaria (243), Zlatna Panega Cement (234), Heidelberg Materials Devnya (227). The revenue of the leader - Heidelberg Materials Devnya (formerly Devnya Cement) - exceeds 118.4 million euros in 2024. The company - part of the German Heidelberg Materials, records significant growth for another year, as demand for cement increases by 6.3% to 2.9 million tons. Exports marked a slight decline compared to 2023, which, however, is planned in the company's business strategy. The prices of services (maintenance, etc.) continue to increase in direct dependence on the increase in the minimum wage in the country. In second place in the ranking is another large cement producer - Holcim Bulgaria, which reported over 102.8 million euros in revenue in 2024. The company is part of the Swiss group Holcim and owns the cement plant in the village of Beli Izvor, Vratsa district. About 90% of the company's sales are concentrated on the local market, and exports are limited mainly to neighboring countries. In addition to the growth in cement sales, Holcim's good results are also due to strategic expansion. In 2024, the company acquired a quarry for aggregates in the village of Klokotnitsa, Haskovo region, and at the beginning of 2025 it also bought a quarry in Varna. Through its subsidiary Ecocycle, it actively manages and recycles construction waste and already has four certified sites - two stationary in Sofia and two mobile, which operate in Northwestern Bulgaria and utilize waste during the demolition of buildings, after which it is directly transported to the plant. Holcim has concrete plants in Sofia and Plovdiv, where it aims not just for growth, but for positioning its low-carbon concrete EcoPact. Zlatna Panega Cement (4th place) - part of the Greek group TITAN, notes a nearly 20% jump in sales in 2024, which exceed 81.7 million euros. The company has a cement plant and five concrete production bases in Sofia and Plovdiv, as well as a mobile concrete plant. It is also working on opening new quarries for the extraction of gravel, sand and crushed stone. One of the company's major breakthroughs in 2024 is the level of coal replacement with alternative fuels, which already reaches 65%. Investments in the Bulgarian plant reach 9 million euros in 2024, and in total for the last three years the amount is 24 million euros. Among the larger projects are the rehabilitation of the kilns for over 4 million euros, the modernization of the alternative fuels installation for nearly 7 million euros, the construction of a solar park for 4 million euros, and over 2 million euros invested in new mobile equipment in concrete operations. In third place in the top 10 is "Knauf Bulgaria" - a manufacturer of gypsum, gypsum fiber and gypsum cardboard boards and profiles. The company is part of the German family-owned Knauf, has gypsum cardboard and gypsum fiber factories in Vidin and in the village of Mednikarovo near Galabovo, where it utilizes gypsum from the desulfurization of the sewage in the Maritsa Basin. The total production produced in 2024 at the Gypsum Fiber Board Plant in Vidin is 2.107 million sq.m (14% decrease compared to 2023). The total production produced at the Gypsum Board Plant in "Maritsa" is 29.471 million sq.m (13% increase), and the total production produced at the Profile Production Plant in "Maritsa" is 16.795 million sq.m (22% increase). The investments made in 2024 are related to reconstruction and improvements in the factories, and investments in fixed assets are BGN 6.4 million. Double-digit revenue growth in 2024 was reported by Baumit Bulgaria (6th place), part of the Austrian Baumit, which has a factory for plasters, screeds and putties in Elin Pelin. The main focus for the Bulgarian company is large residential projects, the renovation of multi-family residential buildings, as well as interior renovations. The new production line for products for interior use is operating successfully and increasing the company's market shares and sales. The manufacturer of ceramic construction products "Wienerberger" (9th position) is part of the Austrian group of the same name. The company has a plant in Lukovit for ceramic construction products, and its product portfolio contains over 100 items. Over 25 million euros have been invested in the plant for state-of-the-art technological equipment and a modern production building. The subsidiary - "Uspeh" is a concessionaire of the clay deposit "Stanchov Vrah" in Lukovit and a supplier of the main raw material - clay, necessary for production activities. The ranking includes several companies with Bulgarian owners. The producer of concrete and concrete mixtures "Hidrobeton" - village of Kazichene, is in 5th place with over 70.2 million euros in revenue for 2024. Partners in the company are Rosen Kostadinov Nikolov and Lili Tsvetanova Nikolova. The company has nine logistics and production bases in the country with a total capacity of 900 cubic meters/hour. Sales revenue in 2024 was formed from the sale of concrete mixtures and their transportation, from the sale of materials and from rents, the activity report specifies. It also states that the company does not maintain economic ties with Russia and Ukraine. Revenues of over 49.8 million euros for 2024 put Formatt Building Products in 7th place in the ranking. The company, owned by Nikolay Georgiev Kaloyanov, has a plant called Technogips Pro in the village of Kovachevo, Stara Zagora, and produces gypsum board and dry building mixes. It sells in over 20 countries in Europe. The market for gypsum board and dry mixes is growing - a result of the accelerated pace of construction in the country and neighboring countries. Atmix - Sofia, ranks eighth in the ranking. Partners in the company, which produces ready-made concrete mixes, are Martin Alexandrov Alexiev, Boyana Yordanova Dimitrova-Achovski and Atanas Lyubomirov Mandzhukov. The company also extracts aggregates in the Studena quarry - Pernik. Its products are used for residential, infrastructure and tunnel construction. The activity report states that in 2024 the company continued to develop an innovative recipe for the production of concrete mixtures using two-dimensional composite materials. The ranking is completed by "Agromah Production" - Belo Pole village, Blagoevgrad. The company - part of the construction company "Groma Hold" of Hristo Asenov Savev, is engaged in the extraction of crushed stone, gravel and sand, the production of ready-made concrete mixtures, concrete and asphalt concrete products. The company is a leader in the South-West region and is successfully developing the market in Sofia and the major regional cities.

The Bulgarian company Stefi EOOD opened a logistics base in the Sofia - Bozhurishte Industrial Park of the National Company of Industrial Zones (NKIZ) EAD. The project was implemented with a Class A investment certificate and is worth over 4.3 million euros. Stefi EOOD has over 30 years of international experience in the field of international road transport, forwarding and logistics. The company serves key markets in Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, the Baltic States and the Benelux countries. The new base extends over 36,000 sq m. of built-up area, includes 5,200 pallet spaces and 600 sq m. of modern office space. In the Sofia - Bozhurishte Industrial Park, as of October 2025, 48 investments with a total volume of over 300 million euros have been attracted here and over 2,000 jobs have been created.

The Ruse car locking system plant "WITTE Automotive" will expand the production of products with electronics after its German owner acquired the Heiligenhaus-based Helbako. The company is a manufacturer of electronic modules for controlling various functions in cars and a long-standing supplier to WITTE Automotive. With the acquisition, WITTE Automotive expands its portfolio to include electronic components - something that the company defines as a key element of its growth strategy. With its plants in Heiligenhaus (Germany) and Timisoara (Romania) and 60 development specialists, Helbako brings know-how in the field of development, industrialization and production of electronic systems and control units. In this way, WITTE Automotive will be able to independently produce electronic components and reduce its dependence on external suppliers. In 2025, the company completed its next expansion in Ruse, building a third plant next to the existing two buildings. Thus, with an investment of 25 million euros, it added nearly 25 thousand square meters of built-up area, which will be used for the new products. The plant currently employs over 1,200 people. For 2024, the company reported a turnover of 213.3 million euros. WITTE Automotive is a family-owned company founded nearly 130 years ago in Velbert, Germany. The group manufactures locking and control systems, door and lid drives, seat locking mechanisms and chamber modules, and its products are used in almost all leading car brands. WITTE Automotive has 17 locations around the world. In Europe, it operates in Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Sweden and France, and in Asia, it is present in China, India and Japan through its subsidiary VAST Automotive. Its turnover for 2025 is 850 million euros and it employs 5,300 people. Helbako is also a family-owned company founded in 1977 in Heiligenhaus, Germany. It produces electronic modules for controlling various functions in cars and is defined as a medium-sized supplier to the industry. The company produces over 5 million modules per year. It has its own development center with 60 employees. Its annual turnover is around 65 million euros and it employs 350 people. Since 2016, Helbako has had a factory in Timisoara, Romania, where 160 people work, including 25 developers.

After more than a year of preparation, the municipal administration in Kyustendil is at a key stage in the implementation of the Regional Center for Sustainable Production and Logistics project. The project has a significant social effect for the region, because every second household in the district is engaged in agriculture. There are over 19,000 decares of cherry orchards and more than 5,000 decares of plum and apple orchards in the Kyustendil district. The center is planned to be built on a plot of about 15 decares in the area of ​​the former animal market in Kyustendil. The indicative value of the investment is approximately 12 million euros. The modern base will have an infrastructure for receiving, cooling by hydrocooler, sorting by color, caliber and quality, packaging and storage of agricultural produce. As part of the project, the development of an electronic platform for B2B and B2C trade is also planned, which will allow both direct deliveries to end customers and the shipment of larger quantities of produce to trading partners in the country and abroad. The management of the center is planned to be joint between the Municipality of Kyustendil and local agricultural producers.

The Bulgarian company, owned by Turkish citizen Metin Arslan - "Eurofleet Bulgaria" EOOD, realizes hundreds of millions of euros in turnover from car trade, which are transferred as trade receivables to related parties between Bulgaria and Germany, all owned by the same ultimate natural person. For this reason, the company has fallen under the scope of an inspection in nine EU member states under an international action of the European authorities with the code name EMILY. The investigation is aimed at VAT fraud schemes and fictitious car supply chains, the damages from which exceed 100 million euros according to expert estimates. "Eurofleet Bulgaria" has a staff of 1 employee and has achieved an annual turnover of between 260 and 300 million BGN, as well as receivables of about 155 million BGN from related parties, in the period up to 2021. The largest receivable of the Bulgarian company is to the German sole proprietor "Autozentrum International Metin Arslan e.K.", owned by the same person who also owns the Bulgarian company - Metin Arslan. This German ET is registered in the city of Kerpen, in the Cologne region.

As of 31 January 2026, a total of 4.38 million non-EU nationals who fled the war in Ukraine had temporary protection status within the EU. This is according to official data from the European statistical office Eurostat. Compared to the end of December 2025, their total number increased by 23,110 people, which represents an increase of 0.5%. The EU countries that bear the greatest burden and receive the largest number of persons granted temporary protection are: Germany: 1,260,230 people (28.8% of the EU total), Poland: 965,990 people (22.1%) and the Czech Republic: 397,185 people (9.1%). In the first month of 2026, the number of people under temporary protection increased in a total of 23 EU Member States. The three largest absolute increases were recorded in Germany (+9,610 people; +0.8%), the Czech Republic (+4,130 people; +1.1%) and Spain (+2,560 people; +1.0%). Four EU countries reported a decrease in the number of Ukrainian refugees on their territory. The most noticeable decline was in Poland (-3,250 people; -0.3%) and Cyprus (-1,235 people; -4.8%). If we look at the ratio of people with temporary protection status to the local population, the highest values ​​per thousand people were recorded in the Czech Republic (36.4), Poland (26.5) and Slovakia (25.8). For comparison, the average level for the entire European Union is 9.7 per thousand people. Eurostat data also shows an upward trend for Bulgaria, where the number of people granted temporary protection reached 79,275 in January 2026. In comparison, in September 2025 their number was 73,193. As of 31 January 2026, Ukrainian citizens made up the vast majority – over 98.4% of all those granted temporary protection in the EU. The demographic distribution shows the following picture: Adult women: 43.5%, minors: 30.3% (almost a third) and adult men: 26.1% (just over a quarter). The granting of this status is based on a decision of the EU Council of 4 March 2022. On 13 June 2025, the European Council officially extended the temporary protection for these persons for the period from 4 March 2026 to 4 March 2027.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, staying within a range that signals a resilient U.S. labor market, the Associated Press reported. Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to 227,000 in the week ended Feb. 7, broadly in line with analysts’ expectations for a decline to 226,000. The U.S. Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls added 130,000 jobs in January, more than analysts had forecast, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent. At the same time, statistical revisions point to significantly weaker employment growth in 2024-2025, with the total number of new jobs created in the United States for last year being revised down to 181,000 - the lowest level since 2020. Although weekly unemployment claims remain at historically low levels - usually between 200,000 and 250,000 - a number of large companies have announced layoffs in recent weeks, including logistics company UPS, technology company Amazon, chemical company Dow and the Washington Post. On a four-week basis, considered a more stable indicator, claims rose by 7,000 to 219,500. The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the previous week, which ended on January 31, rose by 21,000 to 1.86 million.

China's exports have surged at the start of the year, with the country on track for a record trade surplus just weeks before an expected summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Official data showed Chinese exports rose 21.8% year-on-year in dollar terms in January and February. That was well above analysts' expectations for a 7.1% increase in a Reuters poll. In December, growth was 6.6%. Imports also showed strong growth. They rose 19.8% in the first two months of 2026, compared with a 6.3% forecast and a 5.7% increase in December. As a result, China's trade surplus for the January-February period reached a record $213.6 billion, up 25.3% from the same period last year. The growth in exports in January and February was mainly due to increased shipments to Southeast Asia and the European Union. Exports to Southeast Asian countries rose by 29.4% and to the EU by 27.8%. At the same time, exports to the United States fell by 11% and imports of American goods fell by 26.7%. However, economists say some of China's exports to Southeast Asia eventually reach the American market, allowing Chinese companies to partially circumvent tariffs. Analysts warn that China's huge trade surplus will be difficult to reduce unless the country can boost domestic consumption and overcome the ongoing housing crisis.