SOFIA: Bulgaria exported 137 million eggs in 2015 mainly for processing, and in Greece for consumption. That is what Dimitar Belorechkov Chairman of the Union of Poultry Breeders in Bulgaria, said in an interview with FOCUS News Agency . In his words, last year many US states have had problems with bird flu disease and Europe exported dyed eggs mixture. “We sold around 10 million – 15 million more eggs compared to 2014. Our import for 2015 was 40 million eggs,” he said.
“The problem is that most of eggs import this year will come around Easter. It is not equally distributed throughout the year,” Belorechkov explained. With regard to whether the Bulgarian eggs are on demand outside the country, Belorechkov said that our country has no tradition to export eggs. “In recent years, the market is closed. Especially after the embargo on Russia. We export to Switzerland, to Germany, Romania, “he said. According to him, in any case, Bulgarian eggs are preferred in the country.
“It is noteworthy that eggs produced in Bulgaria are fresher than imported ones. They are not stored for any reason in warehouses. Second, we don’t use fish meal in the poultry diets, which is very important,” he said. “Moreover, the majority of our chickens are vaccinated against salmonella. These are things that people should know,” Belorechkov added.
“There is no change in the price of eggs before Easter, because the Bulgarian market is flooded with products,” the Chairman of the Union of Poultry Breeders in Bulgaria said. According to him, mainly retailers determine the price. “Bulgarian producers are selling at below cost at the moment because retail chains allowed eggs from Poland and Romania to enter directly on the market, “he said.
Dimitar Belorechkov explained that compared to last year now there is a reduction in the price of eggs. “2015 was more favourable for us because the Orthodox and the Catholic Easter holidays coincided and there was no such dumping in eggs as now, when we import eggs even from France,” he said and pointed out that the situation in the industry was alarming. In terms from which countries Bulgaria imports eggs, he commented that it was difficult to determine because it was very flexible process. “We import eggs even from Latvia, but we are not able to monitor imports constantly,” Belorechkov noted.