Bulgaria Newsflash Week 50

Bulgarian company starts industrial production of oil from microalgae

Did you know that Omega-3 oils can be produced from microalgae? And that a Bulgarian company with a Dutch connections has taken up this business?, writes the Balgarski Fermer weekly.

Нuvе Nutrасеutісаlѕ, which is part of Huvepharma, started producing Omega-3 oils from microalgae as supplements for a healthy diet: Omega-3 EHA/EPA lipids, protein, exopolysaccharides and arachidic acid (ARA). The supplements will be available on the market with the brand names HuvePrime and HuvePure. Even though the target market will be infrants and baby formula, as well as the entire food sector, the company will also be making, through fermentation, Omega-3 and arachidic acid for food for pets and aquacultures.

Huvepharma has a total fermentation capacity of over 10,000 cu m. The new production will take place in the fermentation plant of the company in the southern Bulgarian town of Peshtera, which is one of the largest and most state-of-the-art fermentation plants in the EU. Huvepharma receintly started sales in this new business segment and says the early results exceeded the expectations.

In the summer of 2021, Huvepharma announced plans to get listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange

And the winner is … walnuts

After the figures for the 2021 output from perennials came out, walnuts are clearly the winners with a 19% increase from last year. The total output reached 10,656 t which makes an average yield of 1,220 kg/ha, reports Agri.bg.

On the backdrop of decreasing vineyards that are cultivated, the production of wine variety grapes increased on-year. The average yield was 6,180 kg/ha making for a total crop of 203,258 t or 7.5% more than in 2020. The growth for apples is more than 11 per cent as far as average yields go and nearly 10% for total output. A total of 54,032 t of apples were harvested this year. The results are even better for raspberries and they saw an annual growth of over 17%. Only the production of pears was worse, dropping by 7.7% from last year.

Sunflower seed appreciates by 56% in a year, maize by 48%

The November newsletter of the Centre for Agri-Policy Analysis (CAPA) reports rising prices of sunflower and maize and shrinking barley and rapeseed fields. The sowing campaign has started for the spring crops. The cultivated land under wheat is expected to reach 1.15 million ha, under barley 117,000 ha and under rapeseed 133,000 ha. The figures are close to the average areas in recent years.

One thing that stands out, though, is the decrease in the barley fields, which totaled some 180,000 until 2017. A decrease is also seen for rapeseed, which covered 180,000 ha until 2018. The CAPA calculations show that rapeseed fields had the best gross profit margins in 2021, around BGN 1,350 /ha after the direct production costs (minus rent, labour, etc.)

Record-setting land prices in Bulgaria’s bread-basket in the North-east

High rents have driven up the price of land in the northeastern Dobroudja region, which is considered the granary of Bulgaria, to as much as 15 euro/sq m, reports BTA. The increase follows a dry 2020 when buyers could find offers for less than 10 euro/sq m. Rents of 500-600 euro/ha this year are the main driver of the price increase, said the head of the regional real estate association, Pavlina Todorova. Demand is strong and supply low, said Ralitsa Kouleva, the manager of one of the largest real estate companies in the region. She believes that the high rents make landowners reluctant to sell.

Farm land has appreciated by an average of 15% on-year and will likely continue to grow more before the year ends.