They will be offered at a minimal mark-up and retain prices from the state-owned company’s stores
The products of LB Bulgaricum are entering the retail network of Central Cooperative Union (CCU) across the country and will be available at the prices of the company stores of the state-owned dairy company. This became possible today after the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between LB Bulgaricum EOOD and the Central Cooperative Union. The document was initialled by the CEOs of the two companies Vladimir Rusev and Maxim Ivanov, in the presence of the Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stojanov and the Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev. We remind you that the state-owned dairy company currently offers cow cheese to its end customers for BGN 12.90 per kg and yellow cheese for BGN 15.90 per kg. This will be the price at which they will also be sold in the CCU retail network.
The Executive Director of LB Bulgaricum EOOD Vladimir Rusev explained that the state-owned company is ready to start with 100 tonnes of finished products, with the first delivery to a store in Sofia to be made today. ‘We are starting to supply the stores in Sofia and Plovdiv, and gradually deliveries will be made to the stores in other locations,’ Rusev said. He stressed that this is only the first step in a process that involves increasing the company’s capacity and capability, and at a later stage, expanding the product range. The products of LB Bulgaricum are entering the commercial network of the Central Cooperative Union throughout the country.
Vanya Buyuklieva, the Deputy Chairperson of the Central Cooperative Union, pointed out that the CCU has about 3,500 outlets across the country, 500 of them under the “COOP” brand, where the products of LB Bulgaricum EOOD will be gradually supplied and offered. Many of these outlets are in small towns and hard-to-reach areas where there are no other shops.
‘With this agreement, we are significantly increasing the commercial share of LB Bulgaricum and we hope to influence prices in a market way,’ Minister Nikola Stojanov said. He added that competition is the best and fairest way to regulate the market. ‘Through the state-owned company ‘LB Bulgaricum’ we will show that there can be quality products that comply with all the rules of production and are offered at competitive prices,’ Stojanov added.
‘Tomorrow, the information website www.foodprice.bg will publish information on the prices of 2 retail chains that have confirmed that they participate in our initiative,’ Nikola Stojanov said in response to journalists’ questions. In his words, the government’s efforts are aimed, on the one hand, at controlling food prices and, on the other hand, at minimal state intervention in the market.
Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev commented that the products of ‘LB Bulgaricum’ are a benchmark for quality, not only for price and that the company is the successor of the former Institute of Milk. That is why efforts are focused on providing greater access to their products at the lowest possible prices.