Bulgaria's agriculture ministry, the consumer protection commission (KZP) and the tax agency (NAP) are starting checks over soaring food prices.
Inspectors will visit all 7 logistics centres, the central warehouses of the big supermarket chains. From next week, they will also check shops.
The agencies want to trace goods from the supplier to the final buyer. They will look most closely at mark-ups: how much of the price a shopper pays is profit, and whether any profit is hidden. The checks also cover tax and food quality.
Agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski said he hopes the competition watchdog (KZK) will say how much of the retail trade is in a monopoly position. If any is, he said, the checks should start there. He added that the checks have not stopped.
Bulgarians have a right to know how the big chains set food prices, said KZP chair Maya Manolova. She said the big retail chains (SMT) are turning to personal attacks because their position is weak. They have no argument, she said, for why Bulgarian shoppers are treated worse than shoppers in other European countries.
"The retail chains make laughable arguments when they have no explanation why mark-ups in Bulgaria are around or above 100%, while in Europe they are 25-35%," Manolova told BNT.
The tax agency will look more closely at whether the chains paid tens of millions for consultancy services, and whether they used these payments to hide income. "We will check how lawful this is and whether it is a way to hide income," NAP executive director Boris Mihaylov told BNT.
A chief executive of one retail chain replied that profit shows in the published accounts and is between €2 and €5 for every €100 of turnover. She said the chains are critically important for national security. Months ago, she said, they offered the government a food sovereignty pact to fix the structural problems in farming.
A father in a family of three with a small child, who spent €50 on groceries, said life has become much more expensive, and not only food but also electricity and fuel. Prices keep rising, especially for dairy products and nappies, and the family is struggling, he said.
The checks start with the big retail chains. The commodity exchanges will be checked in full much later.