The purchase price of tobacco in Bulgaria has plummeted to BGN 3.80-4, hitting a 15-year low, according to industry representatives.

Over 30% of the tobacco producers in the southwestern region of Gotse Delchev have said they are leaving the business and the country, according to the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

In the first days of 2015, mass purchasing of tobacco was supposed to start, with a clear-cut schedule of the commissions in the different localities.

As this did not happen, the Chair of the Union of Producers of Oriental Tobacco, Arben Mimenov, demanded an urgent meeting with representatives of the companies which had signed contracts in the region.

Mimenov told BNR that he had agreed with company representatives that a large portion of the tobacco produced in the region would be bought in 10 days’ time.

He explained that tobacco producers were facing serious losses in 2015, adding that prices had hit a 15-year low, causing many people to feel desperate and decide to go out of business/

“A large number of families want to leave the country. I think that some 30-35% will leave the tobacco business,” Mimenov stated Wednesday.

He also said that proposals for changes to the Tobacco Act were to be discussed at a working meeting in Gotse Delchev on Thursday.

Mimenov emphasized that the Tobacco Act amendments had to be put to the vote at a plenary meeting of Parliament as soon as possible.

He said that it had to happen by the by the new planting period at the latest so that the changes could be adopted by February 25.

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