Germany Interested in Bulgarian Agricultural Products

German companies are interested in purchasing Bulgarian agricultural products, said Svetoslav Simeonov, CEO of the Bulgarian Agriculture Fund.

On Friday, Simeonov participated in a Bulgarian-German business meeting during the international public exhibition for food, agriculture and gardening industry, Greek Week, in Berlin.

The Vice-president of the German retailer "Metro", Michael Widmann, said that he wants Bulgaria to deliver agricultural products, mainly fruits and vegetables, for sale in the Metro stores abroad.

However, Simeonov said that the company is facing difficulties purchasing products from Bulgaria because it has to negotiate with a large number of farmers.

The Metro VP has suggested that if farmers get together in unions, negotiating of large quantities of products would be much easier. Widmann also expressed the country's willingness to promote Bulgarian products to third markets, like Rusia.

According to the German business, Bulgaria provides good conditions for production of bio products in large quantities because the soils are of high quality and because they have not been treated with chemicals in the last 20 years. However, the problem is that the agricultural lands in the country are parcelled out.

Simeonov also pointed out that German banks are interested in funding Bulgarian projects that are approved under operational program for rural areas development. In his words, the subsidy for such programs in Bulgaria is 50%, while it is only 20% in Germany, and that is of serious interest to German banks.

Nine Bulgarian companies will be presented at the fair that will be held January 21-30 in Berlin, according to the Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry, which is organizing the country's participation.

Last year, 13 Bulgarian companies participated in Green Week. Bulgaria also submitted its bid for partnership of the fair, which could be approved in 2013 the earliest.