That Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) imports large quantities of food, despite having agricultural resources to produce them itself, has long been known. Just a reminder, BiH has about 2.57 million hectares of agricultural land, of which around 700 thousand hectares are arable in the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and around one million hectares in Republika Srpska (RS).
At the green markets, the most sought-after and therefore the best-selling products are potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. However, the question arises: how many of the offered products are truly domestic, and how many are imported from other countries? It is worth noting that red onions are from Germany, potatoes and garlic are from Egypt, and Polish apples have flooded the markets in Banja Luka. While it is still possible to find domestic products at the markets, there are also many vendors selling imported goods. If we walk through the markets in FBiH, we will see the same picture.
Domestic market needs
Darko Ilic, president of the Association of Vegetable Growers of RS, says that domestic baby potatoes grown under agro-textiles can be expected in about fifteen days.
“As for peppers and tomatoes, we have to wait for the calendar for those to arrive. We have them planted, in greenhouses and outdoors. So, domestic produce will also be on the market shelves. We hope for a successful year, and if the weather continues to be favorable, we will meet the needs of the domestic market during the season,” Ilic added.
Ilic claims that domestic agricultural production can always meet the needs of the domestic market during the season because, as he says, when domestic vegetables arrive, there is a decrease in imports.
However, RS Minister of Agriculture Savo Minic reveals that there are significant problems in the market with food, in this case, vegetables and fruits, which threaten domestic production.
“We have been fighting against the import lobby all this time. Several letters have been sent from this Ministry requesting that the import of certain agricultural products be temporarily banned during the harvest season. Similarly, someone sitting up there in Sarajevo should be asked why a request from an importer of garlic in BiH is approved on the same day it is submitted if the administrative process takes a month. And it takes us a month to harvest a certain agricultural crop,” Minic said.
Total trade volume amounted to 10.9 billion BAM
Scenes from supermarkets and green markets can be a small sample and explanation of the complete economic picture of BiH, its imports, and exports. The latest data show that in the first quarter of 2024, exports from BiH decreased by as much as 560 million BAM. The data shows that if this trend of export decline continues until the end of the year, BiH could reduce the placement of its products abroad by more than two billion BAM.
The Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH states that the total volume of merchandise trade amounted to 10.9 billion BAM, which is 2.75 percent or 308.7 million BAM less compared to the first quarter of 2023. Of this, the total value of exports was 3.95 billion BAM, which is 560 million BAM less than in the same period of the previous year. Imports into BiH amounted to 6.94 billion BAM, which is 252 million more than in the same period of the previous year. When observed by markets, there was a decrease in exports in all leading markets, but there was a trend of slowing exports, which was particularly pronounced in April 2024.
After several years of growth, the largest decrease in exports was recorded in the markets of Croatia at 12.8 percent, Austria at 14.3 percent, Italy at 18.5 percent, and Germany at 9.4 percent. Among the CEFTA countries, the largest decrease in exports was recorded in the Serbian market by 26.4 percent. There is encouraging growth in exports to so-called other markets, where there was an increase in exports to the Turkish market by 37.9 percent. The movement of imports had the opposite trend to exports, leading to an increase in the foreign trade deficit, which amounts to about 3 billion BAM. The most significant import markets are Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, and Serbia, Forbes writes.
E.Dz.
