Austria
September 21, 2017
Bulgaria occupies parts of the Eastern Balkan peninsula. With a surface of 111,000 km² and a population of approximately 7.1 million inhabitants it is not very densely inhabited. The country is divided by the Balkan mountains.
North of the Balkan mountains and all the way to the river Danube there are fertile areas and the granary - Dobrudja – in the Northeast. The Balkan Mountains themselves are the world’s most important production area of rose oil. The agricultural area south of the Balkan Mountains is characterised by hot and dry weather conditions. Bulgarian viticulture has also come up with excellent products. Animal breeding was more or less discontinued with the collapse of Communism. In agriculture, winter wheat is the most important crop with cultivation surfaces of approximately 1.1 million hectares, followed by sunflowers with roughly 600,000 hectares and maize with about 400,000 hectares. Other major crops are rape with 150,000 to 200,000 hectares and barley with about 150,000 hectares. The yields are only partly processed internally; large portions are exported over the Black Sea as raw materials.
Some of Bulgaria’s agricultural businesses are still organised as cooperatives that have survived from communist times. Others are privately owned. Except for the smallest sized family businesses producing for their own consumption, there are many farms with up to 1,000 hectares and an important number of farms cultivating between 3,000 and 10,000 hectares. There are even large-scale operations with 15,000 to 30,000 hectares. The largest agricultural operation manages about 150,000 hectares and is a customer of SAATBAU LINZ.
SAATBAU LINZ has kept business relations with distributors and large-scale agricultural undertakings in Bulgaria for 10 years. Since 2012, the customer base has been further enlarged. A close cooperation with the company Leader Consulting, an exclusive business partner of SAATBAU LINZ, has marked an important milestone in marketing our products in Bulgaria. Since 2014, this company has been introducing our products on the Bulgarian market. We have been quite successful with protein plants in the context of the EU greening policies and thanks to the personal involvement of Ms. MARINOVA, the owner of the company, we have also succeeded in the catch crop and cover crop segments. As regards wheat, we have been cooperating with large-scale processers in quality production with our varieties ALBERTUS, UBICUS and LUKULLUS, which have proven perfectly suitable. On the highly competitive maize market, we have undertaken first steps with varieties in the maturity range between FAO 350 and 450 and have also been successful. In addition, our line of sunflower varieties bred by SAATBAU LINZ is very suitable for the conditions in Bulgaria. We are continuously expanding our market share and setting the basis for a successful development in the long term. Resistance against herbicides and broomrape are important in this context. Winter rape cultivation has proven difficult due to unfavourable weather conditions that often prevail at the time of sowing. But we are taking up the fight and want to work our way into the market with our top variety PRESIDENT as well as GRAF, CLARUS and other varieties. We hope to be able to get another foot into the door here.
Our marketing strategy is based on widespread test fields and an intensive lecture and information programme. Positive turnover developments in recent years show, that we are working on fertile ground and with a good partner to further develop our position on the Bulgarian seed market.
Sales South & East Europe
Josef SCHNEIDER
+43 664 627 25 17
josef.schneider@saatbau.com
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