Bulgarian bakers warn of rising bread prices due to energy costs

Mariana Kukusheva, chair of the board of the National Association of Bakers and Confectioners, has warned that rising production costs will inevitably lead to bread price increases in Bulgaria. She noted that the cost of bread has been rising steadily for several months, with a particularly sharp increase in the last six weeks due to soaring logistics and energy expenses.

Kukusheva highlighted that business electricity prices reached an average of 214 euros on September 24, compared to just 80 euros the previous year. She argued that forcing the industry to operate below cost is an unsustainable transfer of social policy onto businesses and warned that a lack of intervention threatens national food security and supply to remote areas.

The association has proposed three options to the state: maintaining a free market to use competition as a price suppressor, implementing a state compensation mechanism if regulated prices are introduced, or permanently applying a zero VAT rate to the four main types of bread. She clarified that zero VAT does not benefit producers directly, as it is paid by the consumer while businesses deduct the tax.