Bulgaria meat industry still lagging
it is to meet EU standards by the country's 2007 target entry date,
say industry experts.
The experts say that many businesses may face closure in the course of the next three years as there has not been sufficient progress towards instigating crucial upgrades which will enable them to comply with EU standards for safety and hygiene.
"Meat firms must revamp the production process to bring it in line with EU standards or shut down operations," Kiril Vutev, head of the local association of meat processing industry, told a recent business forum.
The news comes in stark contrast to EU Commissioner Franz Fischler's recent testimony that Bulgaria is on track for entry to the EU in 2007. Bulgaria has had a tough battle to try and drag its food and beverage industry up to EU standard. The country missed out on the first round of accession, due to be completed on May 1, because of its lack of progress. However, on a trip to Sofia last month to assess how the country's agro-food sector was progressing Fischler said he believed that 'significant' progress had been made.
Fischler also said at the time that Bulgaria was on course to sign an accession treaty in 2005 that would assure the country of its mooted 2007 EU entry. He also added that a significant amount of EU funding, mainly through the SAPARD fund, had specifically helped the meat processing sector to make progress.
However, Fischler was only able to confirm that a mere four slaughter houses and three meat packers had been certified to license their exports to EU markets. The dairy sector has also given cause for concern and in the past year a total of 120 dairy and meat businesses have had to be closed.
Bulgaria's meat processing sector has remained fragmented and has had a distinct lack of investment since the fall of the communist government in 1989. After the introduction of the new government controversial agricultural reforms were introduced which failed to address the issues of much-needed investment and consolidation. Indeed, after losing government backing and subsidies, the sector has witnessed a steady decline in output over the past ten years, with total meat production falling by approximately 30 per cent.
A lot of this reduction can be attributed to the huge scale closures which have hit the industry over the last five year period. Further to the most recent round of EU closures. Figures from the Bulgarian Foreign Investment Agency show that audits of over 800 processing facilities led to 195 closures before 2002.
To date it is said that there are only two Bulgarian meat processors that have benefited from any significant degree of foreign investment. Currently leading companies in the sector include Meatproduction, Mekom, Boni Oborot and Tandem none of which exports overseas.
