Wine growers need to join forces, agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski said in Plovdiv, because wine keeps flowing in from abroad and the border can't be shut. Growers also need to find ways to make their harvest more attractive to wineries, he said.

Abrovski was answering a reporter's question about the problems growers face when selling their harvest. He added that the ministry will also work to get people buying more Bulgarian wine.

"This hasn't been done for the last 15 years, and growers have been left to fend for themselves — the only thing that's ever been done is hand out money when there's a problem," the minister said. Unless the industry tackles consolidation, Bulgarian wine consumption and new markets, he said, the same problems will keep coming back every year.

Abrovski invited people from the industry to a meeting at the agriculture ministry. He promised the state will do what it can with its budget and within what the law allows.

The ministry's main job right now, Abrovski said, is to save the money set to be lost under the Strategic Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development. He called this the ministry's most important task at the moment, since it involves around 200 million euros. On export aid for markets outside the EU, Abrovski said that will start once the EU funds run out, so as not to overload the State Fund Agriculture with projects.

The agriculture minister took part in the opening of the new academic year at the Agricultural University in Plovdiv.