Power at 340 euros per megawatt-hour: Bulgarian meat processors seek help
High electricity and fuel prices are companies' biggest worry, more than euro adoption, the industry group says. An aid model under discussion might pay out only after 10 months.
Symbolic image · Photo: Dimitǎr Boevski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria's meat processors are sounding the alarm over electricity prices. High electricity and fuel costs are the industry's biggest concern, Atanas Urdzhanov, chairman of the Association of Meat Processors, said on Saturday at the traditional Elenski But festival in Elena, according to the BTA news agency. During peak hours on Thursday, electricity cost 340 euros per megawatt-hour, he said. The industry had not experienced such prices last year.
"We expect help from the state, above all for electricity," Urdzhanov said, according to the portal Banker.bg. Last year, companies received support when prices rose above 200 leva per megawatt-hour. A mechanism is now being discussed under which the money would sit in a fund for 10 months, raising doubts about whether the aid will arrive in time. According to him, inflation and high production costs weigh on the industry more than the introduction of the euro.
The sector comprises more than 400 mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. About 40% of the pork processed comes from Bulgaria and 60% from other EU countries; for beef, around 80% is imported. Pork prices have remained relatively stable, Urdzhanov said. He called on producers to cooperate more closely in order to be able to handle larger orders.