A group of representatives of Bulgarian trading companies supplying fruits and vegetables to LIDL, Auchan, Carrefour, REWE supermarket chains in Bulgaria visited the post-harvest infrastructure facilities of seven large horticultural enterprises in Moldova at the end of January.

As the heads of agricultural enterprises that received the guests noted, the visit was not informational, but had a practical nature. Bulgarian sales representatives tried to solve a temporary problem: to compensate for the lack of supply of high-quality apples to Bulgarian supermarkets with urgent imports from Moldova. The quality, packaging and even the price of Moldovan apples suited them. However, apparently, it will not come to the signing of contracts.

The host party concluded that the main obstacle to the supply of Moldovan apples to Bulgaria was too expensive transport logistics. Potential buyers would have to rent trucks both ways, and there would be no return loading. Potential sellers were also focused only on the sale of apples and did not consider options for the reverse import to Moldova of some Bulgarian products, for example, vegetables or seed potatoes.

According to Moldovan traders, after visiting Moldova their Bulgarian counterparts went to Poland, where, most likely, they purchased apples of similar quality on more attractive logistics terms or at a lower price.

Сообщение What prevents the exports of Moldovan apples to Bulgaria? появились сначала на EastFruit.

Tons of potatoes were left unharvested in the fields of Bulgaria. Potatoes turned out to be too expensive for the EU because of the small compensation to Bulgarian farmers, according to the Association of Potato Producers in Bulgaria as reported by AgroTimes with reference to Bourgas.

Bulgarian potatoes turned out to be several times more expensive than those grown in other European Union countries, where producers receive serious subsidies.

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Potato growers demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Minister of Agriculture Desislava Taneva.

Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, subsidies provided by the governments of Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and other countries are many times higher than the subsidies in Bulgaria. In Greece, the subsidy is 2500 euros/hectare, but in Bulgaria – 409 euros/hectare.

Сообщение Bulgarian potatoes too expensive for the EU market появились сначала на EastFruit.