Bulgaria's Raw Material Exports Cause Concern

Tons of scrap are seen at Bulgaria's Port Varna are they are loaded on ships for exports. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's growing exports of raw materials appear to be causing concern about both the inefficiency and low value added of the Bulgarian economy, and the environmental situation in the country.

"While Bulgaria's economy slowly but certainly is sinking, hundreds of tons of grain, scrap, and timber are being loaded on ships to be exported to other countries," the Bulgarian news agency BGNES writes in a report from the Black Sea port of Varna.

The report stresses a recent statement by Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov that there is a huge market for Bulgarian timber since a cubic meter of timber costs EUR 100 in Greece.

"However, he didn't even ponder over the matter why Greece isn't seeing such mass tree felling as the one in Bulgaria," the BGNES Varna correspondent comments.

The critical article goes further to remind that in the recent years there has been large-scale forest clearing in Bulgaria because of the construction of ski tracks, vacation complexes, and residential quarters.

"The destruction of a territory's "lungs" often leads to severe natural calamities," the report concludes.

It also touches on another point – the fact that even though it has seen growth recently, Bulgaria's export seems to depend a lot on raw materials such as timber, grain, and as well as scrap, with high value-added industries showing little growth in exports.

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