Bulgaria: Livestock and Products Annual

In 2021 and 2022 to date, the Bulgarian livestock industry has successfully recovered following the 2019 African Swine Fever (ASF) crisis. The major challenges in 2021/2022 were related to sharply increasing feed grain and energy prices, skyrocketing inflation, and fluctuations in consumer demand related to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Bulgaria’s political stalemate negatively affected domestic support policies, but despite these challenges, commercial pork farmers have rebounded. Most backyard farmers have stopped raising pigs. Consumer demand has improved due to stabilization of the hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) industry, and better travel and tourism seasons, with beef and pork consumption growing by a double-digits and reaching record high consumption levels in 2021 and most likely in 2022. FAS/Sofia (Post) estimates that 2023 will be a positive year, and the beef and pork industries will see stable development driven by resilient consumer demand and full recovery of the HRI sector.