Overproduction of cabbage this year has brought down the purchase price to 0.30 leva per kilogram, which is about 0.15 leva below its cost price. At the same time, in retail chains the same vegetable reaches prices of up to 1.29 leva. This is what the producer Ivan Kaburov from the village of Malo Konare, Pazardzhik region, who is also the deputy chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Greenhouse Producers (BAPOP), has warned about.
According to him, last year the situation was radically different – due to the drought, yields were low, and the farm price reached 0.80 leva per kilogram.
"Last year, this vegetable was sold for 0.80 leva from the farm and people scolded me for not growing a bigger crop" – Kaburov recalls in a comment quoted by "Sinor.bg". The high price then motivated many producers to plant cabbage this year, which led to today's oversupply.
Although cabbage is purchased wholesale in the range of 0.25 leva (for processing) to 0.40 leva per kilogram, Kaburov draws attention to the huge difference in retail outlets.
"Let people know that the profit does not go to the producers" – he is categorical.
He again raised the issue of the lack of regulation on the market and called for the adoption of the Agri-Food Chain Act, which should monitor and control overpricing.
"We continue to wait for the Agri-Food Chain Act... I don't know why the bill is not moving forward, but we, the producers, want it" - said Kaburov. He believes that the Ministry of Agriculture should also offer production quotas for next year in order to avoid mass bankruptcies.
Ivan Kaburov announced that he and his family will not grow vegetables in their heated greenhouses this winter. As the main reasons, he points out the high prices of sunflower husk pellets, the lack of state energy aid and unfair competition from imports.
"The third reason is the easy access to the Bulgarian market of Turkish and Albanian cucumbers and tomatoes. The trouble for consumers is that they are treated with plant protection products banned in the European Union" – the manufacturer warns.
He added that the laboratory control by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) is insufficient. Instead of winter, the Kaburovi family plans to plant greenhouse vegetables only on March 1, in order to reduce heating costs.