site.btaLow Purchase Prices May Make Bread Wheat Scarce - Growers

Low Purchase Prices May Make Bread Wheat Scarce - Growers

Dobrich, Northeastern Bulgaria, July 5 (BTA) - The low purchase price of the new crop may lead to a shortage of bread wheat, Dobroudja Grain Producer Union Chairman Kostadin Kostadinov told BTA.

In his words, the price margin between the Western animal-feed varieties, which are grown on an increasing scale because of their higher yield, and bread wheat is just 5 leva per tonne. Kostadinov argued that such policy of traders does not incentivize the growing of varieties with good bread-making qualities. "Purchase prices continue to fall despite the large costs incurred during this unusual farming year, and grain producers are verging on bankruptcy," the interviewee said. He specified that the going on-the-spot price of animal-feed wheat in the region is 250-255 leva/tonne. "The State must reconsider its agriculture support priorities, all the more that wheat is a strategic commodity," Kostadinov added.

Grain prices will probably continue to decline, given the bumper crop across the Black Sea region. "The point is whether traders will start seeking high-quality wheat," said the Director of the Dobroudja Agricultural Institute, Prof. Dr. Ivan Kiryakov. In his words, Bulgarian bread wheat is very high quality this year. For example, the Enola variety showed over 14 per cent protein with an average yield of 6,000-7,000 kg per hectare.

In Dobrich Region, wheat is being harvested on 119,400 hectares. Now that some 14 per cent of the crop has been gathered in, the yield averages 5,460 kg per hectare, according to figures released by the Agriculture Regional Directorate.