Many publishing houses in the country have been forced to cut their circulation and are severely hampered by a lack of paper. For months, the supply of raw materials has been limited, and the price of paper has risen. And combined with the drastic surge in electricity, many companies in the industry are shutting down or limiting their activities.

Paper in Bulgaria is imported mainly from Russia, and the largest producers there in the last quarter of last year have increased prices every month. Thus, the publishing houses in our country report a nearly 40% jump in the price of raw materials.

"Which is an absolute shock for us in terms of price. Apart from that, there are no stocks for cardboard, orders are two or three months in advance, some of the big companies have stopped accepting orders for cardboard, there is the biggest crisis," said Manol Peykov, publisher.

In addition to the new prices, deliveries are erratic. And publishers are already reporting a shrinking circulation.

"We ordered a book to be printed in the printing house and our colleagues say today: There are resources for only half of the circulation of this book that you ordered from paper material and next is expected to be delivered in February for the rest," said Yana Decheva

Meanwhile, transport and electricity costs are also rising significantly.

"The energy problem is fierce in my opinion, I have colleagues who have started to close. It's just a perfect storm from the covid situation, the contraction of the market because of covid and then the following outbreak because the market can't stand contracted for long," said Manol Peykov.

The industry insists that the reduced VAT rate on books remain at 9% as a permanent measure and not as a temporary one due to the covid crisis.

/BNT

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