Bulgaria’s bakers warn of bread price hikes due to costs

The head of the National Branch Union of Bakers and Confectioners, Mariana Kukusheva, has warned that a severe crisis threatens the bread production industry. She cited the relentless daily increase in diesel fuel prices and planned tax changes in the 2026 national budget as primary pressures. Official statistics already indicate that bread prices have risen by approximately twenty percent.

Kukusheva explained that logistics represent the largest expense for bakers, as bread is a heavily transported product. She stated that employers would bear the full cost of a planned four percent increase in social security contributions, which is particularly damaging since labor constitutes nearly half of a product’s cost. The retail chains were also identified as controlling final consumer prices by freely setting their markups.

The industry organization is calling for immediate market regulation and greater control to ensure fair competition from businesses operating outside official norms. It emphasized that these steps are necessary to protect the quality of Bulgarian bread and to prevent job losses.