Harvest has started: no bread price hike expected

Bread price is not expected to increase based on expected yields, which will be over 500 kg/decare, said caretaker Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Georgi Tahov, who launched the harvesting campaign within the framework of the initiative "Bread of Peace" in the land of the village Zlatitral, Plovdiv district in Southern Bulgaria.

According to his words, over 6 million tonnes is the expected wheat harvest for 2024. He specified that according to preliminary data, the estimated production will be between 6.1 - 6.3 million tonnes of wheat and over 800,000 tonnes of barley. Minister Tahov added that the areas with wheat expected to be harvested this year are nearly 11 million decares and those with barley - about 1.6 million decares.

"The bread balance in the country will be ensured. The favourable weather conditions at present give us confidence that the quality of the harvest will be at a high level," he said.

Regarding the sales prices of wheat, Minister Tahov clarified that these are exchange prices.

"What we are doing through the regulatory mechanisms is to pay the compensation payments to the grain producers and to the agricultural sectors regularly and on time. This supports their liquidity in an indisputable way," the Agriculture Minister added.

He clarified that there is a spare capacity of about 80% in the grain storage warehouses in the country, so there will be no worries on harvesting and storage of the new crop.

Minister Tahov said that Bulgaria continues to be a significant player in the international food grain market, exporting wheat to over 30 countries.

"Bulgaria is a country with agrarian potential, which I am sure will continue to develop in the future," he added.

Regarding the quotas for grain imports from Ukraine, he expressed hope that they would be maintained.

"I hope we will get the answer to this question at the forthcoming Agriculture Council in Brussels," he said.

Speaking to the media, the caretaker agriculture minister said that 42 000 applications have been submitted so far in the direct payments campaign. "Of these, about 38 000 are for areas totalling about 3 million hectares. We are expecting 3.6 million hectares and the deadline for submitting applications is 30 June," Minister Dr Georgi Tahov reminded.

The event was attended by Plovdiv Regional Governor, Eng. Ilia Zyumbilev, the Mayor of Rodopi Municipality of Pavel Mihailov, the President’s Advisor on Agriculture Yavor Gechev, the Rector of the Agrarian University Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boryana Ivanova, the President of the National Association of Grain Producers Ilia Prodanov and Georgi Telkiev from the Union of Grain Producers from Plovdiv, as well as Svetoslava Tomova, the Mayor of the village of Zlatitrap.