"The situation in Bulgarian agriculture is dramatic, and the main problem is the lack of competitive and stable domestic production". This was stated by Zhelyo Boychev from the Commission for the Protection of Competition on the air of the program “Wake up“.
According to him, the institution is closely monitoring the processes in the sector – from production and consumption to cross-border imports. –We have a crushed Bulgarian production – this is the main problem“, he emphasized.
Boychev pointed out that agricultural producers in our country are placed in an unequal position, and the sector is highly fragmented and uncompetitive. According to him, without developing its own production, Bulgaria will not be able to cope with high prices.
As part of its analysis, the Commission has come to the conclusion that markups and the method of pricing should be carefully monitored, especially in the last stage of the supply chain. “It is there that we observe distortions that directly affect the final prices for consumers“, explained Boychev.
He stressed that coordinated intervention by all institutions is necessary in order to find a sustainable solution to the problem.
With regard to fuels, Boychev noted that the war in Iran is having an impact on prices. According to him, "Lukoil" has a dominant position on the Bulgarian market - both in production and in storage and wholesale, which affects other participants. “We have focused our attention on wholesale prices, where we see serious growth - from the refinery to the wholesalers. The increase in the price of diesel and gasoline is particularly noticeable,“ he added.
Nevertheless, Boychev noted as a positive fact that the company in our country is currently managed by a special manager, which creates the prerequisites for greater control over the processes in the sector.