Bulgaria Milk Producers Protest because of Low Prices

Dozens of Bulgarian milk producers rallied in the capital Sofia to press for government guaranteed minimum purchase prices for milk due to increasing animal feed prices.

 Farmers in the new European Union
member country demanded a minimum wholesale purchase prices of 0.40
euro per litre of milk compared with current market prices of about
0.25 euro.
The Socialist-led government decided earlier this year
to pay up to 70 million levs ($55.6 million) in additional state
subsidies to milk producers after farmers staged protests and blocked
roads across the country in January.
But milk producers, who
rallied in front of the agriculture ministry on Wednesday, argue the
funding is insufficient.
Feed prices have more than doubled last
year as a result of poor crops damaged by a severe drought, while
milk prices increased about 30 percent, the agriculture ministry has
said.