After the recovery process started in the middle of last year, the stabilisation of LB Bulgaricum is progressing well. Contracts that were unfavourable have now been completed. The company maintained its national coverage while expanding its product range. This was stated by the Minister of Economy and Industry during a parliamentary scrutiny in response to a question on the state of LB Bulgaricum.
The Minister of Economy recalled that the previous two managements of the company, from the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, despite the increased operating costs of BGN 3 million, have unjustifiably reduced by 60% the final price of the products. ‘The total loss of the company’s stores was over BGN 450 000,’ Bogdanov stressed.
In his words, there is already a result from the reform started in the company since the middle of last year, from the successful renegotiation and return to the market, as well as from the termination of the concluded unfavourable contracts for the company. ‘Preliminary data for the month of February show that for the first time in almost a year the company will make a profit from its operating activities, and sales will exceed BGN 1 million on a monthly basis,’ the Minister announced. He pointed out that the long period of poor pricing, lack of products in the store network and disrupted supply chains were creating serious bottlenecks for the company, which required time and extra effort to overcome.
Bogdanov stressed that the link between the R&D Centre and the production facilities has already been restored, which also gives the go-ahead for the implementation of the programme for the launch of new products with the active participation of the researchers from the scientific units.
The Minister of Economy was adamant that currently the company works only with first quality Bulgarian milk, from Bulgarian farms, strictly monitoring the quality indicators and does not allow the use of any improvers, stabilizers and dry milk.
The Minister of Economy pointed out that the 45% increase demanded by the trade unions for the current year would lead to the bankruptcy of LB Bulgaricum. ‘This will generate a total annual remuneration cost for the company of BGN 8 million, which is impossible in the current situation,’ Bogdanov said. He was adamant that the Economy Ministry would not allow the Bulgarian company to go bankrupt.
He stressed that a meeting had been held with the trade union organisation of the KNSB and these figures had been presented to them and, in his words, there was an understanding of the difficulties facing the company and the impossibility of incurring additional costs of this magnitude at this stage.
Bogdanov announced that the average wage in January was BGN 2 746, which is an increase of 33% in two years. However, at this stage, the company cannot afford to increase its employees’ salaries any further. According to his words, specifically for the Production Base — Vidin, the company’s cost per employee for 2023 amounts to BGN 32 308 or BGN 2 692 per month on average, with an average salary for the region of BGN 1 398.