site.btaFood Price Index Up by Nearly 1% in Second Week of August

The market price index (MPI), which reflects wholesale food prices in Bulgaria, increased slightly for the third week in a row, by 0.997% to 2.143 points. The level of the MPI at the beginning of the year was 2,316 points. It then reached its spring high of 2,480 points in the beginning of March.

The baseline of 1.000 points was set in 2005.

The wholesale price of fruit, with the exception of bananas, increased during the week, according to the data of the Commodity Exchange and Wholesale Markets State Commission (CEWMSC). For the first week this year, the CEWMSC tracked the price of watermelons, which increased by 3.5% at the end of the week to BGN 0.88 per kilogram.

Apricots increased in price by 8.3% and sold at BGN 3 per kg, and the price of peaches went up by 4.5%  to BGN 2.55 per kig. The price of lemons went up by 4.3% to BGN 2.94 per kg, imported apples by 2% to BGN 2.06 per kg.

Bananas, however, became cheaper by 3.6% and were sold at BGN 2.67 per kg. There are no data on the price of melons.

Changes in the wholesale price of vegetables were registered in both directions this week. The biggest increase was for the price cabbage, by 11% to BGN 1.01 per kg, and the biggest price drop was in greenhouse tomatoes, by 5.3% to BGN 2.30 per kg. The CEWMSC also began tracking red peppers, which have increased in price by 4.1% and sold at BGN 2.54 per kg at the end of the week. Green peppers became cheaper by 3.9% and were selling at BGN 1.97 per kg, and carrots lost 3.4% to BGN 1.44 per kg. The price of greenhouse cucumbers went up by 5.9% to BGN 2.52 per kilogram.

The wholesale price of white brined cheese from cow's milk went up by 0.2% to BGN 11.15 per kg, while Vitosha yellow kashkaval cheese was selling at BGN 17.17 per kilogram, up by 0.6%.

The price of yogurt (3% and over 3% fat content) remained unchanged at the end of the week, with 400 g going for BGN 1.13. Fresh cow's milk (3% fat content) was sold for BGN 2.13 per liter.

Poultry price decreased by 2.4 % to BGN 6.41 per kilogram.

Eggs (size M) were sold at BGN 0.38 per piece wholesale.

Rice gained 1.9% to BGN 3.24 per kg, lentils rose by 0.5% to BGN 4.11 per kg, while the price of beans dropped by 1.7% to BGN 4 per kg.

The wholesale price of sugar lost 2.1% to BGN 2.38 per kg. Type 500 flour remained unchanged BGN 1.31 per kg. The price of oil went down by 2.3% to BGN 2.92 per litre in a plastic bottle, and cow butter (125 gram package) was down by 1.5% to BGN 2.59 per unit.