site.btaUPDATED PM Donev: Daily Monitoring and Control Will Be Introduced for Food Pricing

Prime Minister Galab Donev Tuesday said a mechanism for daily monitoring and control would be introduced along the supply chain from producer to retailer, be it the large retail chain or the neighbourhood grocer. He spoke after a meeting at which ministers and representatives of various institutions analysed food pricing.

"We found a 20% to 30%-plus price rise from producer to wholesaler to retailer," Donev said.

Donev also said: "We will not intervene in the free market and will not skew the mechanisms and rules of free competition and fair trade practices. On the contrary, we will expose unfair competition and unfair practices so that customers will know where price distortion occurs for essential goods and services."

He added that the government institutions would engage in uncompromising control along the chain from producer to retail.

The government will also propose legislative amendments to address loopholes such as the lack of a statutory definition of an "unfair trade practice".

A website will be created to provide up-to-date information so that customers can easily compare the price and quality of food products.

The meeting initiated by Donev was attended by Deputy Prime Ministers Hristo Aleksiev and Atanas Pekanov, Finance Minister Rositza Velkova, Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev and the heads of the Commission for Consumer Protection, the Commodity Exchange and Wholesale Markets State Commission, the Customs Agency, the National Revenue Agency and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.