Since the beginning of the year, the Competition Protection Commission has been studying in detail the factors that influence the prices of basic food products. To this end, the commission regularly requests information from manufacturers, distributors and traders, in order to track how they form their prices and the conditions along the supply chain.
Are traders ready with pricing and what concerns consumers have, a bTV team checks.
We enter a shop where they have already introduced trial prices in both leva and euro. Vladimir says that he trusts the label and does not calculate whether it corresponds to the price in leva.
„I look and compare more or less, everyone knows what the euro exchange rate is. I don't think there's anything to worry about, after all, we're not the first country to go down this path, so I don't see a problem with it, I even think it's better," he says.
According to other users, in order to guarantee a normal transition, the state must intervene.
“I certainly wouldn't call it control, but the state will have to be present to ensure the full rights of citizens“, says Lachezar.
In order for prices to be objective, this chain has automated the system that converts currencies.
“The information is generated by the central database, which is a guarantee that there is no human intervention to calculate the amount in euros and users should not doubt the amount indicated in euros. In my opinion, the concerns are with traders who do not have a commercial information system, because they will have to somehow replace it with manual labeling,“ explains Petra Yovnova, Chief Director of “Innovations and Logistics of Commercial Activity“.
The focus of the Antimonopoly Commission's investigation will be goods such as eggs, milk, dairy products, flour, bread and oil.
“It is striking that in the first quarter these 20 most necessary goods increased by 5% compared to the same period last year, and basic foods such as bread increased by nearly 18%, which is mainly due to the VAT refund from the beginning of the year. "Flour is also growing at the same time," says Violeta Ivanova from the Institute for Social Trade Union Research at the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions.
In cases where violations of the competition law and unfair trade practices are found, the commission will take measures against the violators.