Household budgets of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) citizens are again the target of new price increases. Almost every day, through basic foodstuffs. It is now meat’s turn. Prices of meat products are the highest in the last ten years. They were caused, among other things, by the war in Ukraine, which led to higher energy and feed prices. The end of the war in Ukraine is not near, nor is the end of price increases. What used to be called basic is now a luxury, Federalna writes.
For citizens, meat is certainly becoming a luxury. They admit that in recent months they consume it less than before.
To compare, last year you could buy a kilogram of chicken at a price slightly higher than 4 BAM. Today, that price is over 7 BAM. If you want to buy chicken breasts, you will have to pay 12 BAM. Another example of a drastic increase in the price of meat products is beef, which cost about 13 BAM per kilogram, and today the price is approximately 20 BAM. You can buy ground beef for 13 BAM, although until recently a kilogram cost 10 BAM. Veal meat is no exception, which a large number of citizens can only dream of because a kilogram costs 25 BAM today.
In addition to dissatisfied citizens, meat producers are not hiding their dissatisfaction either. Meat from domestic producers is significantly cheaper than meat in retail markets. Despite that, the demand for domestic meat products is low. Low purchase prices and expensive fodder will result in the shutdown of domestic meat industries, warns Nebojsa Djokic: “Meat has become a little more expensive, but it has become so much more expensive than we are at zero again, that we have not earned anything. Why did I sell the bull for 5 BAM, which was until recently 4 BAM because the price of cereals went up again. At what price did I sell it then? Bad price.”
The enormous growth in livestock costs and excessive water imports are leading to higher meat prices. The way out of the covid crisis was met by another crisis – the war in Ukraine, which is a blow to the world, but also to the BiH economy, which has long been threatened.
”All branches of agriculture have risen in price by 40 to 60 percent, depending on which branch of the economy we are talking about. There is a race on the world market in terms of procurement of raw materials and what we get input from farmers – no one asks for the price but only to provide a sufficient quantity. Prices will probably fall for a certain period, but they will never return to the level they were at,” explained Ognjenka Lalovic, Director of the Sector for Economy of the Foreign Trade Chamber (FTC) of BiH.
While we are waiting for the announced reduction in prices, on the shelves of retail markets, customers can still see higher food prices on a daily basis. For a long time now, citizens have not been buying meat per kilogram, but in much smaller quantities. The question is – will they be able to afford those small quantities in the future. Citizens expect better situation, higher salaries, and pensions, but also lower prices. Domestic producers expect increased subsidies. The government is on the move.
