Prices of 21 Products from the Small Consumer Basket Remain Unchanged

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) reports that the prices of 21 products from the small consumer basket have remained unchanged on a monthly basis.

There has been an increase in the price of vegetables, with cucumbers and tomatoes becoming more expensive. A more notable rise has been recorded in the price of pork. In contrast, seasonal fruit such as apples and lemons have become cheaper compared with September. Price changes for the remaining food items remain below 1%.

For 10 of the 17 monitored products, smaller retail outlets continue to offer lower prices than the major supermarket chains. The price of yoghurt, for example, has risen by 1.6% in large stores, while it has fallen by around 1% in smaller shops. Prices at wholesale level have also dropped by just over 1%.

Significant discrepancies between wholesale and retail prices persist. The retail mark-up on some products ranges between 20% and 74%. For rice, fresh milk, cheese, eggs, potatoes, apples and beans, the mark-up exceeds 50%.

“Traditionally, you can see that there are seven or eight items in the small consumer basket where the difference is over 50%, and in some cases over 70%. This trend has continued from June until now. In other words, we are still paying prices which, in our view, are not justified by market conditions. We see no reason for such pricing and, where there is sufficient basis, we hope the regulator will impose the necessary sanctions to restore what I would call market fairness,” said CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov.