“Imported products that enter at a higher price, through lower markups on the shelf are cheaper, and Bulgarian ones that are crushed at a lower price, enter with huge markups and become more expensive”, this was commented by the former Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev in the program “Wake up“ on NOVA.
According to him, in this situation, market logic is lost, and the ordinary consumer is left with the impression of profiteering on the part of Bulgarian producers.
The occasion for the conversation was the proposed bill on market regulation and the position of 13 industry unions, which declared themselves against state intervention. The former minister expressed a firm conviction that their letter was not a collective decision. “Someone speaking on behalf of everyone, without ever having spoken to everyone – this is unfortunately a widespread practice”, pointed out Vatev.
Measures against price increases: State-owned markets that compete with private exchanges?
He added that the author of this text represents the interests of multinational companies. “These multinationals have central contracts with the headquarters of the retail chains and their conditions are far different from those that small Bulgarian producers renegotiate”, explained the expert and emphasized that the two countries are not at all on an equal negotiating footing.
According to him, the draft law under discussion is largely borrowed from German and French legislation, where a statutory ceiling of up to 35% mark-ups has been introduced. The former minister added that it is not normal for them to vary between 25% and 100% in the same product group.
According to him, this problem needs to be solved, but it all depends on how strongly the MPs will be influenced by the lobbies. He reminded that the large chains have a huge and powerful lobby even in the European Parliament, noting that “Bulgarian manufacturers are kindergarten compared to these players in the Premier League”.
However, Vutev noted that without the retail chains, which already dominate the Bulgarian market, domestic businesses have nowhere to sell their goods. “The big question is that they go bankrupt even while working with the chains”, he summarized and warned that the presence of imported products on the market in our country is growing precisely at the expense of Bulgarian ones.