site.btaState-Owned Yogurt Producer Targets Broader Global Presence

In an interview for BTA, LB Bulgaricum Executive Director Vladimir Rusev said the State-owned yogurt and dairy products company plans to broaden its presence across the globe. Among the potential destinations are Malaysia, Pakistan, and Jordan. Bulgarian dairy products will be launched on the Mongolian market later this month, and a greater volume of products on the Finnish market is to be negotiated. 

The Bulgarian company has sent samples to other countries that are currently in the testing period, he went on to say. A strategy will be developed to launch an entirely Bulgarian line on the foreign markets. There is interest in LB Bulgaricum’s ready products from EU countries, such as Greece, Czechia, and Germany. Companies from India, Israel, Vietnam, Malaysia, and other countries express interest in acquiring a Bulgarian dairy license.  

This year marks 50 years since LG Bulgaricum began its partnership with Japan’s Meiji, Rusev noted. At a business meeting in late July, the two companies discussed their partnership in the next ten years and a budget of some EUR 2 million. In the focus was the planned establishment of a research and development centre that will develop new dairy products and such containing the Lactobacillus bulgaricus bacteria. 

At the end of August, LB Bulgaricum will participate in the AGRA International Fair of Agriculture and Food in Slovenia.

In March, the company introduced a new concept whereby only Bulgarian raw milk will be used in production. “We support Bulgarian dairy producers and decided to work entirely with Bulgarian milk, aiming for a balance between trade interest and the company’s social mission,” Rusev noted. He quoted data showing that imported milk exceeded 33,000 tonnes in January-April 2023, mostly from Poland, Hungary, and Romania. 

Rusev also told BTA that the company’s profit as at end-June was BGN 2,738,000. The revenues grew by 25.44% to reach BGN 2,773,000 in the first half of 2023, mostly as a result of the significant increase in demand.