Food industry

German company Paul-Heinz Wesjohann Group wants to buy Bulgarian Ameta Holding, owner of the "Ludogorsko pile"brand of poultry and poultry products and the PilCo processing plant in Razgrad.

Romania could reach the first positions in the European Union as regards the ecologically certified agricultural areas, given that the new National Programme for Rural Development (PNDR) took into consideration the introduction of an additional financial package for ecologically certified pastures and hayfields, the chairman of the Bio Romania Association Marian Cioceanu told AGERPRES on Monday

Billionaire Michele Ferrero, who became Italy's richest man with a confectionary empire built on his popular Nutella spread, has died at the age of 89.
      
Ferrero had been battling illness for several months. He died in Monte Carlo on Saturday.
     

Bulgarian fruit and vegetable producers have threatened protests over the unfair distribution of financial aid by sectors by the Agriculture Ministry.

JAGODINA - The 410 street markets in Serbia record an annual turnover of RSD 28 billion, with green produce markets, which number 139, recording a turnover of RSD 7 billion, author of the book Management of Street Market Transformation Nebojsa Batalovic has said.

BELGRADE - The Ministry of Agriculture has proposed amendments to the law on subsidies that will change the criteria for herbal production subsidies, Minister of Agriculture Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic said on Tuesday.

Tearful Sydney office workers and Muslim women in hijabs laid flowers Tuesday at the scene of a deadly siege, as an outpouring of grief and shock gripped the usually easy-going harbour city.
     

A few dozen people are being held hostage by an unknown gunman in a cafe in downtown Sydney, Australia.

Three of the people have left the cafeteria according to the latest report, and police is due to  interrogate them.

The West Australian later put the number of those having fled at five.

BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament has adopted the law on financing agricultural production, which allows the establishment of pre-harvest financing and introduces the use of future crops as a form of loan security.

The law was adopted on Tuesday and will enter into force on March 1 next year.

Bulgaria loses nearly EUR 90 M under the Rural Development Program for the past programming period due to the poor performance of the State Fund Agriculture, according to Deputy Agriculture Minister Vasil Grudev.