The price of retail lamb in Bulgaria has surged by 8.4% on an annual basis, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, with data sourced from SAPI indicating an average price of BGN 25.27 per kilogram as of April 10.

Meanwhile, the purchase price of lambs based on live weight stands at BGN 11.11 per kilogram, registering a slight increase of only 0.1% compared to the previous year. Notably, wholesale lamb has experienced the most significant growth, reaching BGN 25.93 per kilogram with an annual increase of 9.2%.

Both monthly and weekly lamb prices have seen an uptick, although the purchase price of live lambs remained stagnant for a week before increasing by 0.1% over the month, as reported by Agroplovdiv.

The disparity between weekly prices of classified meat from light lambs (up to 13 kg) in Bulgaria and the EU is notable. As of April 1, prices in Bulgaria exceeded 1,040 euros per 100 kg, whereas the average EU price hovered around 810 euros per 100 kg, according to EC data from March 2024.

Interestingly, only classified light lamb meat in Croatia and Hungary surpassed Bulgarian meat in terms of price, based on slaughterhouse data.

In terms of imports, the main sources of sheep meat in Bulgaria are "third countries," with 490.4 tons imported from North Macedonia (444.3 tons) and Greece (416.3 tons) in 2023.