site.btaUPDATED Gross Value Added of Food Industry at BGN 1.8 Bln, Up 18% from 2023 - Agriculture Minister
Five international food exhibitions - Meatmania, The Way of Milk, Bulpek, Interfood & Drink, and Wine & Spirits Show - started on Wednesday at Inter Expo Center in Sofia. They will be on until November 16.
Speaking at the official opening, caretaker Agriculture and Food Minister Georgi Tahov said that the food industry is very sustainable and stable, with more than 6,000 enterprises operating, more than 90,000 workers engaged, and the gross value added amounts to BGN 1.8 billion, up by 18% from last year.
In Tahov's words, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food through its structures will continue to support the sector through regulations and reducing the administrative burden. He underscored that four new interventions worth over BGN 800 million will open in 2025 under the Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Rural Development. "It is our strong hope that these will lead to improved infrastructure on these farms, to continued investment in the processing industry," the Agriculture Minister said.
Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry David Sukalinski noted that all the diversity of the best of the Bulgarian food industry establishes the current exhibition as one of the most significant events in Southeast Europe.
US Ambassador Kenneth Merten noted that many US companies are looking to sell their products in Bulgaria.
For his part, Ambassador of Japan Hisashi Michigami said that if one had to name a few countries that know best the rich tradition of the Bulgarian dairy industry, Japan would certainly be among them. He added that Bulgarian yoghurt is already a worthy ambassador for Bulgaria in Japan. According to him, every day about 500,000 pots of Meiji yoghurt are produced and sold in Japan.
Italian Ambassador Giuseppina Zarra also attended the opening.
Mariana Koukousheva, head of the National Union of Bakers and Confectioners, underscored that Bulgaria is the only country in the EU that does not have a differentiated value added tax on food. "This hampers our economic development, hampers the country's domestic consumption," she noted, adding that the only way to encourage an economy is to increase consumption.
Bulgarian Industrial Association Chairman Dobri Mitrev expressed the opinion that when there is a good partnership and understanding between businesses and the State, things happen easier, faster and more favourably for everyone. The State is not just an authority, but it is first of all a concern - a concern for economic operators, for every Bulgarian citizen, Mitrev said.
The five international exhibitions have over 500 participants from three continents: Europe, North America, and Asia. Representatives of companies from Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Turkiye, Greece, Japan, Vietnam, and the USA, among others, are presenting products, innovations, software, ideas, and visions for development.
/RY/
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