Tension arose in the rose oil sector due to the information announced in the media by the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Minister Abrovski, related to the creation of a laboratory. The main problem is that this step was not previously discussed with stakeholders and an advisory council was not held, as provided for under the Rose Oil Act.
„We discussed the information announced in the media by the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Minister Abrovski, which is why tension arose in the sector and among all stakeholders. This is a step that was not discussed in advance with the sector. There was no advisory council, which is mandatory under the Rose Oil Act. The procedure was not discussed – "such as the creation of such a laboratory, what the steps will be, what the financing will be and what the expected result is," Gergana Andreeva from the "Essential Oils" Association told FACTI.
“I understand the creation of a laboratory as something that would be extremely positive and positive. We welcome a laboratory because the issue is not the absorption of a sum of 460 thousand leva. The issue is how to act with this sum and how all the problems that we have commented on over the years will be solved. Now there is talk of state control over a laboratory of a sector that is in private economic interests," the guest added.
“After the changes in 1990, the state-owned company "Pharmachim" passed to private investors, and it had production facilities. They were developed, investments were made and that's how the market developed. Because the market was previously supported by the state and partners abroad. National participations began in all corners of the world, control by the processors themselves over their suppliers for the supplies and quality of the raw material began. Relationships began between suppliers of raw material and processors so that there could be traceability of the quality of the oil that would ultimately be obtained. And based on all this, other processes began before 2018 - in 2015, 2016, which were extremely dramatic in terms of the quantity produced, cut and processed. They were also very dramatic in terms of the purchase price of the rose flower and the final product. 2018 was the most dramatic year and then we started a discussion in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on the project for raw materials for rose production and thus the Law on Oil-Producing Roses was created. The law covered the entire sector, which in the transition period until 2018 was going through all kinds of crises. In 2010, we created a National Laboratory with partners from Germany, then we developed it with money from the Norwegian Information Fund and other projects. Thus, we invested in equipment to prove the quality of rose oil and other essential oil crops“, Gergana Andreeva also said.
See more of the conversation in the VIDEO.