Vertical Coordination as an Opportunity for Market Risk Management in Agricultural Holdings in Bulgaria

The purpose of this article is to assess the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on the potential of agricultural producers in Bulgaria to manage price risk through a vertical coordination strategy. A comparison was made between the established producer organizations in Bulgaria and other Member States of the European Union on the main indicators of the level of development number of recognized organizations, organization rate and average number of members. It is concluded that the policy objective of reducing producer price volatility through vertical coordination along the supply chain has not been achieved at this stage. In order to make it possible for the market (including price) risk to be managed by farmers in Bulgaria in this way, it is necessary to seriously increase the share of farms that cooperate for the purpose of joint sale of products, as well as to increase the size of established producer organizations.