site.btaAgriculture Minister, Grocery Store Chains Reach Agreement on Local Produce Supplies

April 15 (BTA) - Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Dessislava Taneva and grocery store chains Wednesday reached an agreement on the implementation of a Council of Ministers' decree concerning local produce supplies. This transpired from a joint news conference of Minister Taneva and representatives of the Association for Modern Trade.

The decree in question, which was adopted on Tuesday, obliges chains with ten or more grocery stores across Bulgaria to offer Bulgarian milk and dairy products, fish and fish products, meat, eggs, and fresh fruit and vegetables. The decree has caused a strong reaction among grocery store chains, according to whom it contradicts Bulgarian and EU law.

Taneva told the joint news conference that together with the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, she conducted a conference call with branch organizations, agricultural producers, milk producers, and stock breeders about the decree on local produce supplies to grocery store chains. In her words, the current COVID-19 crisis makes necessary measures aimed at minimizing the damage caused by shrinking markets, reducing the amount of discarded food, and helping local producers and the enterprises linked to them survive.

She specified that the decree will be in effect until December 31, 2020, but it is a good idea to keep the measures in force after the state of emergency is lifted. The Agriculture Ministry is ready to assist with the registers of producers, she added.

Lidl Bulgaria CEO Milena Dragiyska said that an agreement was reached on working measures, and that there is understanding of the need to support Bulgarian producers in a reasonable manner. "We presented additional measures on which we have been working in the last days: measures for funding and easing the logistics," she said. Her grocery food chain firmly supports the position that at least 90 per cent of the raw material going into Bulgarian-made dairy products should be Bulgarian milk.

Georgi Gurnevski, representative of METRO Cash & Carry Bulgaria, said that the best organization should be found so that the whole society would benefit. He thanked the Government, because the best solutions for direct local supplies can be found through dialogue. He said his grocery food chain launched a programme for work with small producers back in 2016, and now has supplies from over 300 small regional producers.

NV/DS

/СН/