In recent weeks, Bulgaria has witnessed a new wave of dissatisfaction with the food chains in the country, provoked by the rising prices and the gross overcharges that companies apply to basic products. On February 13, this dissatisfaction was expressed through a boycott of retail chains.
"The turnover of retail chains was reduced by 30%, but success is also measured by the extraordinary government meeting on Saturday, a day and a half after the boycott, as well as the extraordinary measures that Prime Minister Zhelyazkov announced. We actually saw the results of the boycott - how the government made a 180-degree turn. And while a few days earlier Zhelyazkov was swearing that the market economy, which is a "sacred cow", should not be touched, suddenly at one point he agreed that both the resellers in the agri-food chain and the resellers' markups should be limited," said Maya Manolova in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
Despite the successful boycott on February 13, a new boycott was announced on February 20, with citizens being urged to refrain from shopping in supermarkets and to support small businesses by shopping in small stores.
Following the example of other countries
"We are only talking about tomorrow, when the same boycott will take place. But with regard to the banking system, telecommunications and mobile operators, the Croatians are doing the same. This is a kind of coordination. You know that today there was a boycott and a general strike in Greece. I think that when we call on consumers to boycott branded hypermarkets and retail chains again tomorrow, we should not forget two things: first, that the boycott on February 13 was extremely successful, and second, that it is a fact that the National Revenue Agency delayed the announcement of the results of the boycott by 48 hours", the former ambassador to the Republic of Croatia Velizar Enchev emphasized on the air of Bulgaria ON AIR.
Artificially inflated prices
A topic that continues to cause a sharp reaction is the artificially inflated markups in food chains, which sometimes exceed 100%. This was confirmed by data provided by dairy producers, who raised the alarm that 1 liter of milk is being sold at a price many times higher than the purchase price. Similar differences are observed in the prices of cheese and fish. The problems are not only in the markups, but also in the unfair practices of retail chains, which often force small producers to pay high fees or wait months for their money.
Enchev added that there is evidence of connections between retail chains and resellers, which is also the reason for the artificial increase in prices. These commercial practices, according to him, not only harm consumers, but also lead to bankruptcies of small producers.
Regarding the future, both Manolova and Enchev are adamant that they will continue to insist on legislative changes that would introduce a ceiling on markups and stop the uncontrolled exploitation of producers and consumers. The two noted that they plan to switch to a system of boycotting retail chains every Thursday.