Bulgaria’s protests, inspections against cheap vegetable imports continue
Bulgarian vegetable producers are continuing their protest campaign against cheap imported vegetables from neighbouring countries Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Greece even as the government has launched special squads to conduct checkups for unlawful imports.
On July 4, vegetable producers in northern Bulgaria threatened to blockade the recently-opened Danube Bridge 2 to produce against the “scandalous” import of vegetables from Bulgaria’s northern neighbour Romania.
“We organised a protest of the vegetable producers and fruit-growers in the district of Vidin because after the opening of Danube Bridge 2 our sales were over,” Milena Dimitrova, a producer from the village of Gomotartsi, was quoted by local news agency Focus as saying.
Dimitrova said that the price of tomatoes at this time of the year had never been lower. She said that production was late because of the bad weather but the producers still expected to sell their products at their real price.
“However, this did not happen. Our tomatoes are becoming unsellable because of the scandalous import of Romanian fruits and vegetables through Danube Bridge 2. They are sold at a dirt cheap price by guest traders without registration, insurances and permits, without fees and taxes,” Dimitrova said.
