Meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture: Institutions and Producers Discuss Prices and Supply Chains

Farmers have discussed with Agriculture Minister Plamen Abrovsky reports that two retail chains allegedly exerted pressure on producers to reduce prices by 15 per cent — the same level as the discount announced under the “Basket with Care” initiative.

According to the Chair of the Fruit and Vegetable Branch Association, Tsvetan Tsekov, the signals have been misused, while the Agriculture Minister stated that institutions can take action only if there is specific evidence.

Following the meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, it became clear that control authorities have already identified 33 unfair commercial practices that will be banned. It was also noted that, regarding the reports of pressure from two retail chains, the information has been misused.

Tsvetan Tsekov, Chairman of the “Fruits and Vegetables” Industry Association: “We sincerely hope that after these cases there will be no such attempts at pressure, coercion, or preventing agricultural producers from selling to the retail chains. There is fear and concern that, after being made public, they will not be listed.”

One of the major producers in the Plovdiv region, Hristo Kumchev from the village of Trilistnik, has been supplying his entire production to large retail chains for 20 years.

He said: “There is no such trend of being called and told to reduce prices by 15 per cent. We do have cases of price adjustments, but that is market logic. We cannot have supply from a counterpart in Spain or the Netherlands at €1 and expect to sell the same product at €2.”

The Agriculture Minister said that institutions can provide effective support only when they have specific signals and facts. The Association for Modern Trade said it did not attend the meeting and would not comment on the matter.