Bulgaria: State-Owned Dairy Producer Expands Presence in Retail Outlets as Government Tries to Bring Down Food Prices

Sofia, March 30, (BTA/GNA) – State-owned dairy producer LB Bulgaricum is beginning to expand its presence in the retail network as the government is trying to bring down food prices, especially those of dairy products. LB Bulgaricum CEO Vladimir Rusev and Maxim Ivanov, Executive Director at the Central Cooperative Union, signed an agreement to that end at the Ministry of Economy Thursday in the presence of Economy Minister Nikola Stoyanov and Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev.

The Central Cooperative Union has about 3,500 retail stores across the country and will undertake to sell LB Bulgaricum products at low prices under the agreement, said Union Vice President Vanya Boyuklieva. There are many settlements in Bulgaria where only the Union has stores, she pointed out.

LB Bulgaricum has 10 stores in Sofia and one in Vidin (on the Danube).

The agreement that has just been signed is one of the opportunities to show that quality products made of Bulgarian materials can reach the public at good prices, said Stoyanov, referring to the government’s drive to curb food prices.

Interest in the new platform for monitoring of food prices, foodprice.bg, is high, the Minister said, with over 10,000 visits a day recorded since its launch on March 24. The platform will show the import price, the wholesale price and retail price of 36 products.

LB Bulgaricum is a major dairy producer in Bulgaria and the only remaining state-owned company in the sector. Some 60% of LB Bulgaricum’s production is for export – it is about starters, probiotics, and the yogurt production licenses are now mainly for Japan, which covers a large part of the countries in Asia, South Korea, Finland, and negotiations are underway with Mongolia. The leading market for the Bulgarian company’s starters is Japan and its probiotics are preferred in South Korea.

BTA/GNA

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