Bulgarian farmers asking for lower VAT for fruits and vegetables

Bulgarian fresh fruit and vegetable producers are asking for a reduction of the VAT in an official letter to the Prime Minister.
Currently, the applied VAT on food products is 20% and farmers are asking especially for fresh fruits and vegetables with reduced VAT by 3% or 5%. The main argument of the farmers is that their nationally grown products are not competitive against the imports mainly from Greece and Turkey and in case, the VAT is reduced to 17% or 15%, Bulgarian fruits and vegetables could gain significant price competitiveness against imports.