Bread prices hike, with increases exceeding 30% in some areas

Shock increase in the price of bread is reported by consumers in different regions of the country in the first days of the new year. In some places the increase exceeds 30 percent.

According to manufacturers, the reason for the new prices is the return of the 20 percent VAT rate on bread and flour. The industry predicts that the price increase will continue because of the rise in electricity and water.

The new bread prices took Plovdiv residents by surprise.

In Blagoevgrad consumers are paying more.

In Burgas, most of the bakeries and grocery stores also have new prices. The cheapest bread is BGN 2.

However, according to the Association of Bakery Producers in Burgas, the increase for mass bread is only 15 percent.

"This 15% is 20 cents, so all bread producers have put 20 cents on the price, if a trader somehow abuses he is responsible for this thing," said Dimitar Ludiyev, chairman of the Association of Bakers and Confectioners in Burgas.

The rise in prices started long ago, said Georgi Lefterov, a producer of artisan bread from Plovdiv.

"The price of bread has been gradually and slowly rising for a long time, linked to the increase in the price of energy, water, even the flour itself, and now VAT," added Georgi Lefterov, a producer of artisan bread.

The bakery of Alexander Fakaliev from Burgas will have new prices within days.

"The increase in VAT, but not only. The increase in costs, the cost price, the wages," said Alexander Fakaliev, manager of the bakery.

In Ruse, Dobrudja bread is already 40 cents more expensive, and producers expect the price to continue rising.

"Services will go up. Most likely transport services, fuel, it turns the whole process, the whole life around us, our daily life," said Lyubomir Dzhekov, a baker from an artisan bakery.

People calculate that the increase in bread will burden the family budget between 15 and 25 leva per month.

Vladimir Ivanov, the chairman of the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Auctions, also commented on the price of bread on the "Talk Now" programme.

According to him, bread producers are groping the market and the opportunity to raise prices.