The Council of Ministers will develop a new law on trade in agricultural goods. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Kiril Vatev, to journalists in the Panitsike area of Kalofer.
According to him, such a law is needed in order to put some frameworks on markups. He pointed out that during inspections of dairy products from the shelf in the store back to the producers, an increase in prices was reported.
The Minister of Agriculture: Imports from Ukraine alone will not solve the problem of product prices
“The strong cannot push down the weaker, because the weakest in this case turned out to be the agricultural producer, who has nothing to push the price down”, comments Vatev.
He specified that the work of the legislative power is not to control the market, but to create the necessary rules for it to function. “From there on, it’s a matter of supply and demand,” Vatev added.
The minister also commented on the import of sunflower from Ukraine, indicating that it will be imported depending on the interest of the Bulgarian processors. We have always imported sunflower, including from Ukraine, and currently it is coming from Romania, Vatev said. According to him, this is a matter of commercial negotiations and there is no administrative or control body that can force the processors at what prices to make their deals. After the expiry of the agreement with Ukraine for two months not to import sunflowers, if there is a need, everything will be regulated in licensing regimes and Bulgaria will enter as much as necessary, Vatev explained.
Kosturkov: Farmers’ protests are largely politically motivated
The minister emphasized that there were no violations in any sample during the inspections of imports from Ukraine. The only reason to increase the control, apart from the traditional control for herbicides and pesticides, is that there is currently a war in Ukraine, Vatev said. Radioactivity and heavy metal tests have been added to the traditional tests.
According to the minister’s data, this year’s harvest in our country is about 1.6 million tons, which is below the expected 2.2 million tons. With the rest of last year, the available Bulgarian sunflower is about 2.1 million tons.
Bulgarian processors annually process 3 million tons of sunflower for oil and 1 million tons for peeled sunflower, so in total our processors need 4 million tons, Vatev said. According to him, the big question is how the Bulgarian sunflower producers and the sunflower processors will come to an agreement in order to absorb the production. These are commercial transactions, we cannot interfere and oblige one or the other with anything, the minister pointed out.
Minister Vatev opened the Eighteenth National Assembly for the Protection of Local Bulgarian Agricultural Animal Breeds, which is being held in the area of Panitsike near Kalofer. For another year, the organizers requested the introduction of a label for a Bulgarian product.
Farmers from all over the country gathered at a protest near Dolni Bogrov (PHOTOS)
Vatev commented that this is something worth doing, but he wants serious marketing and a fight for the trust of the user.
According to him, in order for this to happen, everything in the product in terms of composition must be Bulgarian, with the exception of some specific spices or packaging, which are not produced in Bulgaria. The example from abroad is that the control of compliance with the composition is legally allowed to be self-control between the competitors there, and the state controls how they self-control, the minister also said.
Source: BTA/Irina Shopova
