Bulgaria: Dumping apricot imports through foreign chains is hitting domestic production

In Silistrensko, the apricot harvesting campaign has started. Although this year's harvest is relatively good, there are many problems for producers. Fruit growers suffer losses due to the low purchase prices of their produce, mainly due to the import of fruit from abroad - Turkey, Moldova, Serbia, North Macedonia, and from this year also from Albania - all non-EU countries where no control directives apply of spraying with agrochemicals and especially dangerous pesticides. And while the delicious, juicy, sweet and squeezed apricots are making their way through commercial conglomerates with difficulty, the importation of produce with questionable quality and practically zero border control due to the dissolved BABH - is there and producing results. What do the manufacturers say? Rumen Zhekov has been growing apricots for more than 20 years. He shared that over the years the costs have increased many times, and the price is growing too slowly. "The main cost is about 40 ...