A new wave of price increases is visible on the commodity exchanges and markets in our country, with the most serious pressure this week coming from vegetables. At the same time, the largest stock exchange in our country - the one near the Plovdiv village of Parvenets - is recording a serious decline in consumption.
The fruit and vegetable market is shrinking at a time when it should traditionally be among the strongest for the year. Bulgarian and imported produce are already offered at similar prices. A factor in the equalization is the cost of fuel and transport. In addition, as the season progresses, the prices of many fruits and vegetables begin to rise. There has been a serious increase in the prices of peppers, potatoes and apples, as well as tomatoes and cucumbers.
The most affected are grape producers, among whom is Dimitar Markov. Since the morning he has been standing at the entrance to the exchange hoping to sell the harvested produce, but there are no buyers, he complains. “A pitiful situation. I will leave in a little while. Why should I stay when there is no one? It is empty. I am returning the goods. I will make it into wine. I have no choice“, says grape producer Dimitar Markov.
The import of grapes is currently undercutting the price of domestic production, explains the retired primary school teacher from the village of Markovo, who cultivates 14 decares of vineyard. “Today I sold one box. And I still have decares to pick. Tell me how? What is our fate? Look at it - selected, amber grapes. Grapes that I can't sell for one euro. I can't sell them. The traders don't buy from us. They buy from Turkey, Greece, Macedonia - from outside. They gave it cheaper. I don't know how much they give it. It was better, it was sweeter, and people say that it doesn't taste good and they're not satisfied, and they give it three times more expensive. Now the fate of these grapes is somewhere in the ravine,“ said another grape grower Lyubka Grigorova.
The fate of pepper growers is similar. Their price at the end of the season is chasing 1.30 euros per kilogram wholesale. “Last year they were 1.50 leva. Now in euros - double, and that's why people don't buy. People receive 300 euro pensions, they will come to buy peppers. A box of peppers - 30 euros. The leva has become equal to the euro. "And that's why it happened like this," explains Ivan Dimitrov, a trader at the Parvenets stock exchange.