page_title: Industry of Bulgaria
section_title: 1878-1945
hierarchical_section_title: Industry of Bulgaria / History / 1878-1945
caption_attribution_description: English: An installation at Kremikovtsi metallurgy works Български: Металургичен комбинат Кремиковци
context_page_description: Bulgaria is an industrialized nation with a developed heavy and light manufacturing industry. In 2007 industry accounted for 31.7% of the country's GDP. This makes industry the second largest sector of the economy after services. In 2007 the sector employed 33.6% of the labour force.
context_section_description: After the Liberation of Bulgaria the new country settled upon a low tariff regime and as a result local industry suffered from the increased import of cheaper and high-quality goods from  more developed producers in Western Europe.  A number of protectionist laws passed by the government in the 1890s and early 20th century led to an increase in industrial output.  At this time Bulgaria received  an inflow of foreign capital largely from Germany, Belgium and Austria-Hungary which was focused mainly in mining and agricultural processing industries.  In the 25 years between 1890 and 1915, industry provided 15% of the GDP.
  Despite the upheavals of World War I, the number of manufacturing plants increased between the wars.  In 1939 there were 3,345 manufacturing enterprises which employed around 112,000 people. The average size was still fairly small — only around 30 employees per factory.  The industry still was concentrated mainly in the large cities and their expanding suburbs. Ruse, Plovdiv, Varna, Sofia, Pleven, Stara Zagora, and Gabrovo saw significant expansion between 1920 and 1940. Large parts of the country remained almost entirely agrarian. At the beginning of World War II only five cities, Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse, Varna and Burgas, accounted for 46,5% of all industrial output.
  Manufacturing was still predominantly light and export focused: textiles, leather, footwear and perishables such as tobacco, sugar, butter and meat were produced in large quantities. Mining consisted of the extraction of coal (near Pernik) and small quantities of ferrous ores. Aircraft were produced in Lovech, Bozhurishte and Kazanlak. Darjavna Aeroplanna Rabotilnitsa (State Aircraft Workshops) had a  plant in Bozhurishte which focused on military aircraft DAR.
caption: A steel-producing installation at the Kremikovtsi metallurgy works
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