Expert Warns of Collapse in Bulgaria’s Wood Processing Industry

Production has been at a record low since 2024, and the situation is set to worsen in 2025.  While 75-80% of the growth in Europe is harvested, in Bulgaria, the ratio was 42% last year.  The repercussions are already visible: the country is engulfed in fires, and forests in the lowlands are drying up in large numbers.  "The lack of a consistent policy has resulted in an exodus of investors, bankruptcies, and the closure of manufacturing facilities," Dishkov stated.  "One of the largest investors, Mondi Stambolijski, which said in 2018 that it would make additional investments of BGN 600 million, discontinued operations in Bulgaria and refocused on Czechia, where it invested BGN 400 million. The country has timber reserves comparable to ours," the analyst notes.

According to him, the majority of processors have reduced their activity or stopped working entirely.  Forestry workers have gone on strike because their wages have not been updated.  Forestry, along with the forest industry (wood processing and furniture manufacturing), employs over 60,000 people, primarily in semi-mountainous and mountainous regions facing depopulation, and accounts for 3% of GDP.  However, the potential for the two areas may be doubled.  Most EU countries understand the importance of the forestry sector; for example, Poland has proclaimed its intention to designate wood as a vital raw material," Dishkov said. 

He asked the government to recognize the value of this sector rather than allowing woods to be destroyed by natural disasters, dry up, or burn down.