“Carrefour” prepares the ax for Bulgarian producers on the “KTB” model –

/ world today news/ The fourth largest retail chain “Carrefour” in Bulgaria has been delaying payments to Bulgarian suppliers for months and has accumulated large debts to them of BGN 20 million. This was announced by the “Made in Bulgaria” Union today at a press conference. Bulgarian producers fear that the chain is preparing to move out of Bulgaria, transforming into another company that will not pay what is owed to our producers.

Lukan Lukanov from the union noted that “Carrefour” in Bulgaria is not the original brand of a large French chain, but a franchise of “Marinopoulos”. This franchise agreement expires in mid-June.

“With this, there is a danger that the obligations of the Bulgarian suppliers will remain unpaid, the effect – probably released people, some bankrupt enterprises”, Lukanov stated and pointed out that the situation is “extremely dangerous”.

Kiril Vatev from the Association of Meat Processors pointed out that the rules that are applied in the countries from which the commercial chains in Bulgaria came, should also be applied here.

The Union “Made in Bulgaria” once again indicated the need for changes in the Law on Protection of Competition, referring to unfair trade practices.

According to Kancho Stoychev from the union, the case with this chain is very reminiscent of the “KTB” scheme, but in trade. Both the bank and the company are mentees, both are involved in schemes to avoid paying themselves, and both are rife with unaccountability and non-transparency. With 1-2 exceptions, the commercial chains in Bulgaria are not reported, although the law obliges them. It was a “trade secret” according to the chains’ lobbyists and opponents of the law introduced by the BSP, which should put order in the relations between the chains and Bulgarian companies.

Our manufacturers and suppliers have warned that the chain picture is dire. They have overdue amounts not only to the suppliers, but they have not even owed the state. “And because things are very serious, we put this issue in the context of the issue of amending and supplementing the Competition Protection Act, which has been considered for so many years,” said the executive director of the “Made in Bulgaria” Union, Plamen Grozdanov.

“Just for 6 suppliers for a certain date, there were about 1.5 million BGN, of which 500,000 are overdue. Many suppliers have filed enforcement actions. “It’s been six months and yet another retail chain has started to delay its payments to Bulgarian suppliers. This worries our members a lot. These are large chains that operate in our market. Imagine what would happen to a medium-sized enterprise that owes 500 or BGN 600,000, of which BGN 200,000 is overdue,” Grozdanov said.

Overdue payments affect 100-150 companies from the dairy sector, meat processing, bakery, confectionery, cosmetics, and this has been going on for two years.