site.btaBulgarian Agrifood Chamber Urge State Institutions to Take Action to Protect Bulgarian Producers

At a news conference held at BTA’s National Press Club in Sofia on Tuesday, the Bulgarian Agrifood Chamber called on the state to take measures to protect Bulgarian food producers. According to the Chamber, the current situation in the food market in Bulgaria is detrimental to both producers and consumers. Representatives of the organization emphasized that a thorough analysis is required before implementing any administrative measures to solve this issue.

Addressing the event, Bulgarian Agrifood Chamber Chair Ventsislav Varbanov, said: "We live in a time when unacceptable things are happening, and we cannot remain indifferent to what is happening on the Bulgarian market. We cannot ignore the prices of food products, their fair distribution, and the added value among all market participants, because we are the people who produce this food".

He underscored that a great injustice is occurring in the Bulgarian market, which harms both food producers and consumers. "We want the state to take its role. First and foremost, we want the control authorities to begin their work as stipulated in the legal framework. We do not even think that the [supermarket retail] chains are at fault, because they have simply found a niche in which they are developing undisturbed, and business logic drives them to do what they are doing now," Varbanov explained.

The press conference also highlighted the clear decline in Bulgarian production over the past years, particularly in livestock farming and the production of fruits and vegetables.

Boyko Sinapov, head of the United Bulgarian Stock Breeders Association, stressed that dairy producers are selling their products below cost price, while consumers are paying high prices for those products. He also noted that many food products in Bulgaria are presented as locally produced, but in fact are not. He urged the control authorities to compare what has been purchased from producers with what is sold in stores as Bulgarian produce.

Bulgarian Association of Dairy Processors Chair Vladislav Mihaylov said that over 70% of all food sales, classified as fast-moving consumer goods, are concentrated in the hands of six large retailers owned by five major international companies. He emphasized that there needs to be consideration for regulation to ensure that Bulgarian food producers have access to the market.

The Chamber calls for the introduction of state standards for key food products, aligning standards for food imports from third countries with those of Bulgarian food products, including strict enforcement of controls, increasing transparency in pricing, mechanisms to maintain the recognizability of Bulgarian products in retail chains, and the development of short supply chains.