site.btaWholesale Food Prices in Bulgaria Continue to Rise

The market price index (MPI), which reflects wholesale food prices, rose by 0.46 per cent this week to 1.947 points, according to data from the Commodity Exchange and Wholesale Markets State Commission, released on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the year, MPI has grown by 5.38 per cent. A year ago, in early March, the MPI was around 1.540 points, or more than 26 per cent lower. The base level of the index of 1.000 points is from 2005.

At the Sofia Commodity Exchange, grain prices during the week are slightly higher. Bread wheat is in demand at a price of 480 leva/tonne, and the sellers gave counter quotes of 510 leva/tonne.

The first days of March reaffirmed the concerns and fears of market participants due to the war in Ukraine, according to experts at the Sofia Commodity Exchange. As Ukraine is a major world exporter of corn and unrefined sunflower oil, and Russia is a major exporter of wheat and fertilizers, world commodity prices are skyrocketing. With all the contracts that the Sofia Commodity Exchange monitors, quotes from Ukraine are missing, as the war does not predispose to trade.