Developments in the Bulgarian Bicycle Market

Since joining the European Union, Bulgaria has been able to dramatically increase their production capabilities and many companies have taken advantage as a result. For example Maxcom, owned by Maxim Mitkov, were once just a small company with little effect on the bike market in Europe; however, they have quickly built a reputation for themselves and have grown significantly in a short period of time.

In the four year gap between 2002 and 2006 alone, their production increased by nearly six times to 220,000 units. Although they do have their own brand, ‘Sprint’, Maxcom now focus most of their attentions on the OEM side of things and even built a new facility in 2006 which covers around 27,000 square metres of space. This facility now produces half a million units per year making them the largest exporter not only from Bulgaria but from the whole Balkan region.

In 2012, Bulgaria exported 750,000 bikes totalling €86 million with the majority of these going to the EU-28 countries; just 4% of all exports of bikes went outside these countries. Germany and France proved to be the biggest outlet with 200,000 units together and although it is slowly growing, the average price per unit remains relatively low at around €115. Bulgaria actually started 2013 at a slower pace than the previous year by selling 50,000 fewer units but the small increase in price meant that income remained stable at around €50 million.

Net export numbers are slowly rising as Bulgaria focuses more and more on their own factories; imports in 2014 were €38 million with the majority, 88,000 units, coming from China/Taiwan; a small amount also came from India and a number of other countries.