Regulators have no way of doing anything about food prices in large chains. They work according to the powers given to them, so there is nothing that can be done, regardless of who heads them. This was commented on bTV by former Minister of Economy Nikola Stoyanov.
According to him, it is impossible to prove with this regulatory framework that there is a cartel between supermarkets.
„Mechanisms must be created and the market must be helped. There must be regulations, there must be traceability from the manufacturer, the importer to the end customer. Everyone says - I earn a little, but the price has increased 300 times. No one wants to admit where this money goes. Everyone participates in order to win, it is normal if they are allowed to. We need awareness and regulation“, Stoyanov also believes.
He also recalled that while he was a minister in official offices, he achieved some things in the field of dairy products:
“Through a state-owned company, where a slight decrease in prices was noticeable, then things went downhill. As always in Bulgaria, when summer comes, there is no more heating, the new harvest comes out and the topic is forgotten until next winter. The state-owned dairy company launched lower-priced products on the market than the other companies. Not only did they offer lower prices, they also signed an agreement with a large Bulgarian chain that had 3,000 stores. We reached 300 stores to stock. They stocked them three times a day. And it's not temporary, it's just that while I was minister, LB bought milk for 85 cents and the next day, after I was gone, it started buying for over a leva and it was no longer competitive. "This is the simple explanation of the problem," explained Nikola Stoyanov.