The National Statistics and the Commission on Commodity Exchanges and Markets reported an increase in food prices on the eve of the Christmas holidays. Where is shopping the most profitable? NOVA team compared prices in our country with those in Greece, Turkey and Romania.
The central market in the closest city to Ruse - Giurgiu, is often visited by Ruse residents. Those who have decided to stock up on goods for the holidays from our northern neighbors should also include in their budget the fee paid for crossing the “Danube Bridge”. In both directions it is 10 lv.
With its numerous shops and stalls, many of which offer products from producers, the market in the Romanian city provides an opportunity to buy everything you need. We start with the traditionally most sought-after product by Bulgarians - oil, which we find in a supermarket next to the market at a promotional price of 6 lei or just over 2.30 lv. We also buy rice from the store for 8.25 lei and flour for 2.20 lei.
Meat and cheese are available in many small shops, directly from the producer. We choose minced meat mixture for 27 lei per kilogram and chicken fillet for 25 lei. The choice of cheese is difficult, there are many options, but we stop at a kilogram of white cheese for 45 lei and this is our most expensive purchase. From the same store we also buy a liter of fresh milk for 7.50. We pay 10 lei for ten eggs. The bread that is available outside supermarkets is very diverse and its average price is 5 lei.
For the Christmas holidays, Romanians buy a lot of wreaths made of fir branches, so the entire market is green, and traditional small bagels are also offered everywhere. So the bill for the ten products that we bought from the Romanian city of Giurgiu came to 150 lei or 59.12 leva.
Seres is extremely convenient for shopping for people in the region of Blagoevgrad, Petrich and Sandanski. For the above-mentioned products, we paid 48 euros or 94 leva.
We are used to associating Edirne with the lowest possible prices with good quality and a variety of products. However, in the last 2-3 years, due to high inflation in Turkey, this has not been the case at all. That's why the number of people who come here for just a few hours to shop is dropping. Before the holidays, the stores are full of people, but unlike before, you no longer hear mostly Bulgarian speech. Just two or three years ago, 80% of the customers in the mall there were from our country. Now they are rather rare. The prices of most goods are not higher than those in Bulgaria, some are still cheaper. Dimitar Ivanov bought the same products in our neighbor's to make a comparison with Bulgaria. A kilogram of chicken fillet costs us 200 liras, or about 10.70 in leva. Minced meat is a little more expensive - 260 liras. We choose the cheapest products of each type. So milk costs us 1.60 leva, and cheese a little over 16 leva. Eggs are 80 liras, or 4.30 leva. Bread ranges from 20 to 50 liras. We buy baked goods on the spot for 1.10 leva. Flour is a little under 20 leva. We choose rice for 4 leva per kilogram, and beans are 3.20 leva. For oil, we will have to pay at least 115 liras or 3.75 leva. Choosing only the lowest prices for the cheapest products possible from each category, our bill shows nearly 60 leva.
Finally, to Montana, where we will buy the same 10 products again. A bottle of oil here is priced at 3.60 leva, and a kilogram of rice is 4 leva. We buy beans for 5.40 leva. According to shoppers, prices in Bulgaria have not stopped rising this year. A kilogram of chicken costs us 14 leva, and a kilogram of minced meat costs 11 leva. Cheese costs 11 leva. We also buy fresh milk and eggs. Ten eggs are 4 leva. We also put bread in the cart, which costs 1.75 lv. And finally, when we draw the line - our list of products came out to 59.22 lv.