A specific gauging of how the Bulgarian business is affected by the global financial crisis are courier shipments being sent to foreign countries. Indeed, this is not an absolute quantitative measure, but rather an indicator intensity at which firms in the country communicate with their partners abroad.
In 2011 the market for express delivery services showed the first signs of recovery, when not only the number of orders grew, but also their absolute value, a study prepared by DHL Bulgaria shoed. Aggregated data can be considered representative as they are based on the figures of more than 700 companies-clients operating in various sectors of the economy – ranging from textiles and clothing, through the sale and distribution of medicines and cosmetics banking and financial institutions, and even heavy and chemical industry and high technologies.
In total Bulgarian companies have sent 367,372 international express shipments last year against 339,368 for 2010 (an 8.3% annual growth), thus outpacing even the pre-crisis 2007. The values of the shipments exceeded EUR17.8 million, an increase of 7.6 percent year-on-year. In absolute terms, however, 2007 is still the record-high year with DHL shipment services for EUR18 million. The explanation is that, squeezed by dwindling numbers of customers, courier companies were also forced to reduce prices. The average value per shipment for last year was EUR48.52, while for 2007 customers paid on average EUR53.2.
Otherwise, the largest partner of the Bulgarian business in these terms remains Germany, where 47% of local customers sent shipments to. One obvious explanation is that the overall trade volume between the two countries was nearly EUR4.5 billion for 2011 as compared to EUR4 billion in 2008.
Increase has been observed in Bulgarian companies sending parcels to their trading partners in Italy (30%), as well to neighboring Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Romania.
Interestingly, 43% of companies, or 8 percent more than the previous year sent ready made products abroad. Experts say that this is due mainly to increased assembly services in the country of various products in the field of high technologies that are expensive, yet light enough to be transported by couriers abroad.
Courier services are now a necessity, not luxury. Now this is an integral part of any business, says the manager of the DHL Bulgaria Snezhina Kazakova. But there are still many difficulties that prevent especially small and medium enterprises to use them regularly. An example for this is the inter-company indebtedness. The latest data of the Bulgarian Industrial Association shoe overdue payments between Bulgarian companies amounting to BGN40 billion, and among the most affected is the trade sector, which employs mainly small and medium companies.
We are trying in every way to alleviate the activities of those of our partners to encourage and help them to survive in this difficult economic environment. For them we are developing special programmes and promotions that may include different sizes of the parcels than our standard ones, said Mrs. Kazakova.
So far, DHL Bulgaria is the undisputed market leader in international courier services with 40% market share of all shipments sent from Bulgaria. The company is followed by TNT Bulgaria, In-Time, the latter representing the U.S. UPS; and Flying Cargo, an authorized representative of FedEx. This situation may change soon as in mid-March it became clear that UPS reached an agreement for the purchase of TNT Express against EUR5.16 billion. The agreement is expected to lead to the emergence of a leader in postal services with a global annual turnover of 45 billion. This fact will sooner or later affect the market positions in Bulgaria, too .
