Bulgaria: Experts expect a 20% increase in the purchase prices of vegetables

Published Aug 4, 2022

Tridge summary

The article provides an overview of the significant changes in the vegetable market in the first quarter and the projections for the rest of the year. It highlights a decrease in vegetable imports with notable exceptions like pepper, a 10% drop in tomato imports leading to a 66% increase in import prices, a 26% decrease in cucumber imports, and a 1% decrease in pepper imports, alongside rising average purchase prices for these vegetables. Retail and wholesale prices for these vegetables have surged, largely due to insufficient competition and a weak domestic supply, with tomato prices seeing the most significant increase. The production figures for 2021 show an uptick in pepper production, while tomato and cucumber production remained stable. The Center for Economic Research in Agriculture (CAPA) and the Slovak Agricultural Research Institute (SARA) have shared their thoughts on the market trends and price forecasts for the year, anticipating continued price hikes.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

For the first three months of the year, the import of tomatoes decreased by 10%, cucumbers by 26%, and pepper by 1%. Import prices rise noticeably and reach 0.97 EUR/kg for tomatoes (+66% on an annual basis) and 0.56 EUR/kg for cucumbers (+50% for the year), experts from the Center for Economic Research in Agriculture note (CAPA). At the same time, average purchase prices for tomatoes grew by 59% to BGN 2.15/kg, while for cucumbers the increase for the year was 38%, with purchase prices at BGN 2.56/kg. Wholesale and retail prices in July on an annual basis show high levels, and this is most noticeable for tomatoes. At retail, tomatoes are up by about 29%, and at wholesale by about 45%. Wholesale prices of pepper and cucumbers are higher than last year's by about 22%, analyzed by SARA. At the same time, the export price of tomatoes from Turkey, which is the largest importer of tomatoes in our country, for the first quarter rose by 18% to 0.89 US$/kg for the year, indicating that ...

Source: Agrozona