Producers for export are obligated both to produce the items called for by the export plan in accordance with specifications and to meet contractual delivery dates; with few exceptions, they have no direct contact with foreign buyers. It is the responsibility of the foreign trade organizations to seek out the most profitable markets and to handle all physical and financial details of the trade transactions. It is also their duty to keep producers currently informed about changing conditions in world markets and to make them aware of needed adjustments in production. Standard subsidies per 100 leva, differing by trading area, are granted on all exports. These subsidies, in effect, modify the official exchange rate so that trade is actually conducted on a multiple exchange rate basis. Subsidies from the state budget are also provided for exports, the returns from which do not cover costs. Special bonuses are offered to economic trusts and their branches that fulfill or surpass their export assignments to noncommunist markets. Proceeds from exports are credited to the economic trusts and not to the foreign trade organizations. Relations between economic trusts and foreign trade organizations are determined in broad outline by government regulations. Specific details, however, including precise financial arrangements that are the core of the relationship, must be worked out by the parties to the contract. This situation provides opportunities for friction that may be harmful to the export program. Trusts and export associations were therefore enjoined to undertake negotiations in a cooperative spirit and to avoid taking advantage of their monopoly position as producers or exporters. Disputes that threaten to involve financial losses are to be settled by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Finance. Total trade turnover increased more than 3.5 times in the 1960-71 period to a level of 5 billion leva, including 2.55 billion leva in exports and 2.45 billion leva in imports. The growth of trade was erratic, particularly in the case of imports. Over the entire 1960-68 period, however, the average annual growth of exports and imports was almost identical--13.9 and 13.8 percent, respectively. In the subsequent three years exports rose almost twice as rapidly as imports, though at a lower rate than in earlier years. The change in the relative rates of growth during the 1969-71 period--10.5 percent for exports and 5.6 percent for imports--helped reverse the consistently negative trade balance of the earlier period and produced trade surpluses in three consecutive years.