About 300 leaseholders and more than 240 combine harvesters took part in a five-km long protest action on August 9 in Stara Zagora's industrial zone.

The meeting was prompted by the wide-spread discontent among local farmers who are unhappy with low purchase prices and the stagnant grain market.

"We want bread to be no costlier than 0.80 leva a kilo. This is a fair price. The higher price is unjustified," read the protesters' address to all Bulgarians and to the Government, distributed in the form of leaflets by two farming helicopters flying over the city.

"We do not serve opportunist political interests. We do not want to bring down governments, but clerks who do not care for Bulgarian agriculture and the bread of the people," the address read.

Leaseholder calculations show a 30 leva loss for each 0.1ha after this year's harvest because of the low purchase price and high fuel prices. They will be faced by bankruptcy if the promises they received on August 8 at the Agriculture Ministry do not become fact, protesters claimed, adding that the majority of them will be unable to sow their land in the fall.

If the State Fund Agriculture does not provide additional financing for the autumn sowing campaign and the State Contingency Reserve does not buy the promised 113 000 tons of high-quality grain wheat from this year's harvest at a price of 200 leva for a ton (VAT excluded), there will be new protests in the fall, the producers threatened.

Grain producers from Haskovo region (southern Bulgaria) staged a warning protest, driving about 50 agricultural machines along the streets of the region's administrative centre. Their main demand was for raising the purchase price of wheat to more than 200 leva a ton.

According to a leaseholder from Haskovo, Tencho Tenev, the ratio of prices in the "grain-flour-bread" chain should be 1:2:4. In his words, this means that at a price of wheat of 0.20 leva a kg, the price of bread should not exceed 0.80 leva a kg.

In this case, too, a helicopter spread leaflets with the main demand of the producers.

There was a protest of grain producers along the road connecting Razgrad and the village of Getsovo in Razgrad region as well. A protest rally of grain producers was organised at the Pleven-Sofia highway, but traffic was not blocked. The protests were against the low purchase prices and the inaction of the state.

Meeting with Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski and Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil on August 8, representatives of farmers from all round the country asked for a refund of the excise duty paid on motor fuel and insisted that the state subsidy be set at 50 leva a ha by September 15 2006 and increase it to 100 leva a ha in 2007.

Another demand is that the National Contingency and Wartime Reserve start purchasing wheat at 200 leva a ton directly from producers and not from wholesale merchants.

"We seek a dialogue with the Government," the steering committee of the Stara Zagora protesters told a news conference later on August 9.

They expressed hope that, as proposed by Kabil, the National Contingency and Wartime Reserve with start replenishing the reserve by purchasing 113 000 tons of quality wheat from this year's harvest at 200 leva a ton before VAT.

This would encourage the Bulgarian grain market, the steering committee said.

Opportunities will be sought to provide additional funding for the agricultural autumn campaign by restructuring the expenditure estimates of the Agriculture State Fund, it emerged after the meeting.

The Agriculture Ministry said on August 11 that the average wheat yield for Bulgaria this year stood at 3440kg from a hectare and the crop totalled 3.177 million tons.

About 922 500ha were harvested, which is 99.19 per cent of the areas sown under wheat.

The highest yields were received in the areas of Dobrich - 4730 kg a ha, Silistra - 4550 kg a ha, and Varna - 4340 kg a ha.

Almost all areas sown under barley, 179 100 ha or 99.93 per cent, were harvested. The average yield for the country stands at 2880 kg a ha, and the highest yields were received in Dobrich region, 4140 kg a ha, and Silistra, 4010 kg a ha. The total crop stands at 516 000 tons.

A total of 77 per cent of the areas sown under rye, or 4300ha, were harvested. The average yield is 1870 kg a ha and the crop 7940 tons.

The buy prices of new crop bread wheat increased compared to the last year and vary from 150 to 180 leva a ton.

High activity in the export of wheat is observed currently. According to Customs Agency operational data, 397 629 tons of wheat were exported in the period from July 1 to August 6 2006, compared to 245 809 tons for the period from July 1 to August 7 2005.

More than 86 per cent of 343 234 tons of wheat that have been exported since the beginning of the 2006/2007 market year is for EU member states. The export is mainly for Spain (308 584 tons), Portugal and Greece.