Bulgaria plans to purchase enough grain to guarantee the needs of the population
A working group has been established at the agriculture ministry to work out the details of the planned grain purchases, the government said in a statement on Friday.
The plan was agreed at a meeting of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and several cabinet members with representatives of the grain and animal feed producing, processing and trading sectors.
Bulgaria has sufficient stocks of grain for the next two years, with the state reserves holding enough to cover the country's needs for 60 days, finance minister Asen Vasilev told public TV broadcaster BNT on Friday. The government has the resources to buy more so as to guarantee the supply in preparation for a potential worst-case scenario, he added.
Earlier last week, the National Association of Grain Producers put out a statement criticising delays of grain shipments from Bulgarian ports, alleging that they amount to attempts to block wheat exports.