The cost of bread has been increasing continuously over the last 4-5 months and extremely intensively over the last month and a half, since logistics and energy costs have increased dramatically. This is what the chairman of the Board of the National Branch Union of Bakers and Confectioners, Mariana Kukusheva, warned about in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World of Focus" on Radio FOCUS with host Tsonya Sabcheva.
She gave an example that on September 24, the average price of electricity for business reached 214 euros, while exactly one year earlier it was 80 euros. According to her, no one can require an industry to constantly work below cost, because this already represents a transfer of the state's social policy to business.
"We offer the state three options. The first is to preserve the free market and use competition as a mechanism to suppress prices. The second, in the event of a regulated price being introduced, is for the state to determine a compensation mechanism for each producer's cost. The third option is related to the permanent introduction of a zero VAT rate for the four main types of bread — white, type, "Dobrudzha" and whole grain“, said Kukusheva.
She was categorical that bread producers do not profit from the zero VAT, since it is paid only by the end consumer, and in the case of businesses, the tax is deducted.
Regarding possible bankruptcies, Kukusheva emphasized that the lack of measures threatens national food security and the supply of bread in remote settlements.
“We will inevitably reach the point where colleagues will start adjusting their prices, because bread is a staple food for over 2.5 million Bulgarians. Our proposals are not an ultimatum or a threat, but a call for statesmanship and dialogue to preserve Bulgarian production“, the expert concluded.