A regular meeting of the Business Council in the Materials and Technologies sector was held in Simitli
On 25.02.2023 at 12:15 in the town of Simitli, a regular meeting of the Business Council was held in the Materials and Technologies sector in the border regions of Blagoevgrad, Haskovo, Kardjali and Smolyan, and the activity was carried out under the project "Business Council - BC 6275 ” financed by INTERREG V/A GREECE-BULGARIA 2014-2020 program, Subsidy contract No. B6.3a.18/13.04.2021.
The meeting was attended by 5 representatives of the sector from the border regions of Haskovo, Kardjali, Blagoevgrad and Smolyan. The engaged room was technically secured, being equipped with multimedia, laptop, printer, microphone/s and sound system, as well as information boards, banner and presentation materials, according to the requirements of the Interreg V/A Greece Program Communication and Publicity Guide- Bulgaria 2014-2020. In addition, disinfectants were provided, as well as water, coffee and tea to ensure the event's coffee break.
The moderator of the event welcomed all the attendees by making a brief presentation of the Rules of Procedure of the BC in the Materials and Technologies sector. After that, a free discussion started on issues of BC members.
The focus of the free discussion was high lumber prices and the creation of artificial shortages. Council members report an increase in the price of wood for processing between three and four times within a year or two. The representatives of the branch claim that participants who do not meet the requirements are admitted to the auctions for wood, small quantities are played, and many companies appear, thus artificially creating a shortage of the raw material.
This worries the representatives of the branch extremely much, because in this way markets are lost and more and more often resort is made to importing wood from Greece.
The participants in the meeting shared that they have participated in several organized protests, but due to a number of factors, including the severe political crisis, their problems are not only not resolved, but more and more wood processing enterprises are closing their operations.
The Council decided to refer the industry's problems to the Southwest State Enterprise and assist in finding a solution that would satisfy all interested parties.
