Will Bread Prices in Bulgaria Increase if Gas Price Goes up?

ncreasing prices of energy resources will cause inflation to rise, which is currently about 3.5%, experts predict. This increase in turn is expected to lead to a rise in prices of goods and services.

If the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission approves the demand of Bulgargaz (the sole public supplier of natural gas for Bulgaria) for a 14% increase in gas price from October, it will result in increase of the price of heating, hot water and bread, as nearly 10% of its price is determined by the value of the blue fuel.

The industry fears that they cannot keep the current prices due to the increased stock exchange quotations of wheat. Therefore, they requested differentiated VAT rate for bread to compensate for higher production costs.

Mariana Kukusheva, Chair of the National Branch Union of Bakers and Confectioners: Bulgaria's bread wheat harvest is 2.5 million tonnes. Currently, the stock price of this type of wheat is 400 BGN without VAT and no one sells. The only way to keep prices down and not to rise, is the introduction of differentiated VAT rate for bread within 5%.