Bulgarians had led nomadic life just like the other Turkish tribes in the beginning of the century X. However, they settled in a short while in some regions. They cultivated the lands suitable for agriculture and they had exhibited that they were the skilful farmers in the second half of the same century. The principal agricultural products were white maize, wheat and barley. Furthermore, the Middle Idyll region was located on the great caravan roads that connected the northern sections with the Caspian Sea- Iran- the Caucasus- Turkestan and therefore, the Central Asia. This strategic situation provided opportunity for the Idyll Bulgarians to found some cities in the region and to develop particularly the trade. Among these cities, the capital city of Bulgar was located on the banks of Idyll in the south with a distance of 100 km. from the point where Kama and Idyll rivers run into. This city was the most significant centre of trade in the Eastern Europe in the 9th-13th centuries.
The exportation goods that were exported by Bulgarians in the course of this trade were as follows: Various firs, horse and goat skins, shoes, arrows, swords, armours, sheep, cattle, falcons, fish roe, walnut, beeswax, honey and Slav slaves. On the other hand, the importation goods that the Bulgarians imported from the Islam world were as follows: textile fabrics, weapons, luxury goods and ceramics (pots and pans).
As a result of this wide trade of Bulgarians, it was possible for a merchant from Nishabur to have a partner in the city of Bulgar that was located in the banks of the Middle Idyll in the beginning of the century XI. It is beyond doubt that these trade relations led the Bulgarian Khan, Ebû İshak İbrahim b. Muhammed b. İlteber to send a significant amount of money for the repair and restoration of the Great Mosques in Sevzevar and Husrucird in the valley of Beyhak in 1024. The Bulgarian Turks in Volga were highly developed in jewellery and their mastery of this craft affected all the regions of the western Slavs towards Sweden.