Our cost price, which determines the delivery price of bread, is changing and is already changing daily. One of the main factors related to this circumstance is precisely the cost of transportation. Our goal is not a higher price of bread, but sustainable production without shocks and at the same time maintaining consumption, because it is falling. Which means that bread from an everyday food is becoming an inaccessible food for a large part of the people. She stated this on the air of "Sabûvē se" on Nova TV, the chairwoman of the National Branch Union of Bakers and Confectioners, Mariana Kukusheva.
According to her, the optimization cannot be done any more and it is not possible for the social burden of bread as a staple food to continue to be paid for by bread producers.
"Currently, the industry is facing terrible economic pressure, which is related not only to the increase in the price of wheat on world exchanges, but also to the increase in all other accompanying costs related to bread production. We are talking about the price of electricity, the price of transport, we are talking about the price of labor, we are talking about costs related to credits, logistics, and the standards that Bulgarian bread production meets," she said.
"The economic pressure is so high at the moment that it puts my colleagues in a state of impossibility to continue to sell their production daily below cost. I have not come to accuse or scare anyone, least of all Bulgarian consumers. Our concern is to preserve our producers and to leave bread accessible to Bulgarian consumers," Kukusheva pointed out.
"Perhaps our biggest appeal is directed at the most vulnerable groups - pensioners, socially disadvantaged, low-income groups. Our request and attention are currently focused on offering three options to the government," she said.
"The first possible measure that we are currently implementing is the free competitive market. Competition is precisely the one that continues to maintain low bread delivery prices. This is a proven market mechanism, which, however, at the same time also reflects the state of the industry," Kukusheva pointed out.
"Our second proposal is that if the state tries to regulate the price of bread, it should say who will pay for this regulation. What economic instrument will there be to cover the difference between the cost of bread and the delivery price of bread?", she commented.
"The third mechanism, which has already been introduced and will ease the pockets of Bulgarian consumers, is called zero VAT on bread", said Kukusheva, adding that it is precisely thanks to this mechanism that the price of bread has remained stable for five years.
"We offer solutions. We realize the current state of the state budget. We are looking for solutions because, by preserving the industry, we are also preserving Bulgarian production. We do not set conditions. This is something that the state must decide if it stands behind the cause of bread continuing to be accessible, possible and present on every Bulgarian table", she commented.
According to her, the delivery price of bread has not been changed in the last five years. "The fact that we have managed to maintain the delivery price of bread, for which we are responsible, in the last five years shows that the industry is absolutely economically oriented and competitive", she said.
Kukusheva also commented on the new food register that will be created by the government. "We have categorically supported the general position with arguments against it, because the so-called new register introduces a new administrative burden that always raises prices", she said.