Bulgaria's Competition Protection Commission dropped a report showing stores are marking up basic groceries by wild amounts, with mineral water hitting 135% above what producers charge. Deputy Chairman Radomir Cholakov said fresh milk gets a 77% bump after discounts, cheese goes up 82%, yellow cheese jumps 91%, ground meat climbs 73%, and eggs spike 89% between the factory and your shopping cart. The agency can pull data from everyone in the supply chain to see where the money actually goes.
Cholakov blamed decades of sketchy privatization decisions and hands-off liberalization policies from the 1990s that left Bulgarian farmers getting crushed by bigger European food companies. He said the government basically abandoned local producers while every other EU country props up their agriculture sector, and Bulgarian animal farming has tanked so hard that the country barely makes enough food anymore. The markup cash flows straight to retailers and middlemen instead of the people actually growing stuff.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told relevant ministries to form a task force this week to figure out what to do about the mess, but the recommendations floating around are pretty vague so far.
Cholakov blamed decades of sketchy privatization decisions and hands-off liberalization policies from the 1990s that left Bulgarian farmers getting crushed by bigger European food companies. He said the government basically abandoned local producers while every other EU country props up their agriculture sector, and Bulgarian animal farming has tanked so hard that the country barely makes enough food anymore. The markup cash flows straight to retailers and middlemen instead of the people actually growing stuff.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told relevant ministries to form a task force this week to figure out what to do about the mess, but the recommendations floating around are pretty vague so far.
