150,000 TONS IS THE PRODUCTION OF CANNED PRODUCTS

The annual production of canned products in Bulgaria reaches about 150,000 tons, Eng. Stoyko Kirovski, Chairman of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors in Bulgaria (UPFB), told BTA. He was among the official guests at the University of Food Technologies, where the Day of the Bulgarian Canning Industry was celebrated for the first time today.

Stoyko Kirovski made a comparison with the production of canned products in Bulgaria in 1989, when the volume was about 900,000 tons. "This means that currently the volume of canned food production has fallen by about six times," explained the Chairman of the UPFB.

According to him, the canning industry is facing a set of problems, one of which occurred back in the late 1990s. "A large part of the enterprises that operated in the post-transition period exported to Russia, but in 1998 the market collapsed due to the devaluation of the Russian ruble. All exports that were oriented there practically stopped. We had to reorient ourselves to the more capricious European markets, the markets in America, the Arab countries and Asia, where the requirements for products are very high," explained Eng. Kirovski.

He added that the transition took the industry a lot of time and pointed out that this was one of the reasons that production volumes dropped dramatically at that time. To date, the challenges facing producers are mainly related to the lack of raw materials and labor, as well as dealing with competition abroad.

All canneries that work with fresh fruits and vegetables buy their products mainly from Bulgaria or from neighboring countries, while those that work with frozen fruits and vegetables can afford to look for lower prices at longer distances, explained the chairman of the SPPPZ.

"We mainly work with Bulgarian fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, they are decreasing every year, which forces us to reduce the volume. The contraction of fruit and vegetable production in Bulgaria over the last 30 years is more than 10 times. Vegetables are especially not enough for our canning companies," commented Eng. Stoyko Kirovski.

According to him, the importance of the canning industry is increasingly decreasing.