ACCORDING to Agriculture and Forest Minister Mehmed Dikme, Government measures for the purchase of wheat have been yielding good results.
Thanks to a decree the Government issued at the end of August obliging the National Contingency and Wartime Reserves Agency to purchase
200 000 tons of grain from Bulgarian producers, the minimum price of milling wheat is 160 leva a ton and milling wheat is in demand, Dikme said at question time in Parliament on Friday, replying to Georgi Pirinski, MP of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
According to Pirinski, the decree for purchasing wheat at a minimum price of 160 leva has not had any effect.
"In addition, there are intermediaries again pressing producers to sell cheap, pretending their grain is of lower grade and claiming high transport costs," Pirinski said.
"The latest surveys show that producers fully approve of the measures taken by the Government, and the effect of their application is very good," Dikme said.
He recalled the conditions for the purchase of milling wheat, the most important of which is that wheat must be purchased on the wholesale markets concluding publicly transparent deals. "The State will invest 32 million leva in grain purchase which must be refunded," Dikme said. "Regrettably, some producers are reluctant to sell their grain, waiting for the prices to go up," he said.
"There has been good export of Bulgarian wheat over the last year," Dikme said. The expectations to export over 1 million tons of grain - the largest quantity so far - before the end of the year will come true because 200 000 tons of the new harvest have already been exported.
"In the ports, there are ships loaded with wheat every day," Dikme said, adding that measures would be taken to tighten control over the sales and exports of wheat.
Bulgaria's State Agriculture Fund has started selecting grain producers for buying out bread wheat for the newly set up Grain Commodity Fund. Grain producers have applied for buying out over 220 000 tons of wheat, which exceeds the quota the state decided to buy out in order to stabilise the domestic grain market.
The Grain Commodity Fund was set up several weeks ago, following the drop in 2002 wheat prices and with a view to picking up domestic grain trade.
In order to enliven Bulgaria's grain market, the country will start talks with the European Union on increasing the duty free import quota for Bulgarian wheat, Dikme said. At present the quota stands at 2000 tons a year. Agricultural Ministry data showed that Bulgaria has so far exported over 250 000 tons of 2002 wheat against an overall output of 3.8 million tons.
Meanwhile, the recent heavy rain showers will adversely affect the late autumn crops - fruits and wine grapes, said Dukena Zholeva, agricultural meteorologist at the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Thanks to a decree the Government issued at the end of August obliging the National Contingency and Wartime Reserves Agency to purchase
200 000 tons of grain from Bulgarian producers, the minimum price of milling wheat is 160 leva a ton and milling wheat is in demand, Dikme said at question time in Parliament on Friday, replying to Georgi Pirinski, MP of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
According to Pirinski, the decree for purchasing wheat at a minimum price of 160 leva has not had any effect.
"In addition, there are intermediaries again pressing producers to sell cheap, pretending their grain is of lower grade and claiming high transport costs," Pirinski said.
"The latest surveys show that producers fully approve of the measures taken by the Government, and the effect of their application is very good," Dikme said.
He recalled the conditions for the purchase of milling wheat, the most important of which is that wheat must be purchased on the wholesale markets concluding publicly transparent deals. "The State will invest 32 million leva in grain purchase which must be refunded," Dikme said. "Regrettably, some producers are reluctant to sell their grain, waiting for the prices to go up," he said.
"There has been good export of Bulgarian wheat over the last year," Dikme said. The expectations to export over 1 million tons of grain - the largest quantity so far - before the end of the year will come true because 200 000 tons of the new harvest have already been exported.
"In the ports, there are ships loaded with wheat every day," Dikme said, adding that measures would be taken to tighten control over the sales and exports of wheat.
Bulgaria's State Agriculture Fund has started selecting grain producers for buying out bread wheat for the newly set up Grain Commodity Fund. Grain producers have applied for buying out over 220 000 tons of wheat, which exceeds the quota the state decided to buy out in order to stabilise the domestic grain market.
The Grain Commodity Fund was set up several weeks ago, following the drop in 2002 wheat prices and with a view to picking up domestic grain trade.
In order to enliven Bulgaria's grain market, the country will start talks with the European Union on increasing the duty free import quota for Bulgarian wheat, Dikme said. At present the quota stands at 2000 tons a year. Agricultural Ministry data showed that Bulgaria has so far exported over 250 000 tons of 2002 wheat against an overall output of 3.8 million tons.
Meanwhile, the recent heavy rain showers will adversely affect the late autumn crops - fruits and wine grapes, said Dukena Zholeva, agricultural meteorologist at the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
