There is a month left until Easter and lamb meat has started to appear in stores.
"I wouldn't say there will be a crisis. Prices are moving in the range, as they were the previous year. There are no significant fluctuations”, said Simeon Karakolev, co-chairman of the National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association and co-chairman of the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber, on Bulgaria ON AIR. He added that he does not expect any last-minute surprises.
Will we eat lamb from Romania?
Romania is a 10-times larger producer of lamb meat, but there is a ban on exports to third countries due to animal diseases. The country exports about 3 million lambs, it became clear from Karakolev's words.
"With this ban, these lambs have to be sold somewhere. I suspect that Bulgaria will be the market where some of them will be sold. If the Romanians experience serious difficulties, they will resort to any prices, just to get rid of the animals. This could mean a serious challenge in the upcoming campaign for Bulgarian prices," Karakolev said in the studio of “Bulgaria Morning”.
The expert also commented on the government's request for
a ceiling on mark-ups for some basic foods.
"Farmers are the first link in the supply chain, without us there is nothing to sell. It is important for us to have a law that balances relations and the distribution of mark-ups and profits. "In the last unit, the markups are in the tens, sometimes even three-digit percentages," Karakolev also said.