Checks along the merchant-processor-producer chain will establish the reason for the unreasonably high final prices of basic food products in stores, Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev has said.

Milk producers told BNR that in the commercial network the price of milk is six times higher than the purchase price. "How is it possible that from the farm to the store a liter of milk jumps from 31 euro cents to €1.84?”, they ask.

According to Mihail Mihailov of the Union of Cattle Breeders, farms are going bankrupt one by one and people are giving up livestock farming. "I know about a dozen farms with nearly 90 cows - the latest one had photovoltaic panels on the roof, owned by a 40-year-old man, who sold all his animals a few days ago," said Mihailov, adding that the farmers expect an adequate response from the state.