The import of water, juices and soft drinks in BiH is still excessive, so that in the first half of the year it amounted to 80,043,144 BAM, which is 16.9 percent more than in the first six months of last year, when these goods were imported in the value of 68,489,664 BAM, it was said in the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the first six months, imports amounted to 76.4 million liters, that is, 3.9 million liters more than in the same period in 2022, which is an increase of 5.4 percent.
The value of exports of water, juices and non-alcoholic beverages in the first two quarters was 22,568,668 BAM, which is 10.9 percent more than exports in the same period last year, when 20,342,117 BAM were exported.
When looking at exports in terms of quantity, a drop of 8.6 percent is observed, and it can be concluded that the quantity of goods exchange is smaller and that it is only an increase in the export unit value, the Chamber points out.
In the first six months, the total volume of exchange was 102.6 million BAM, which is 13.8 million BAM more than the same period last year, that is, it represents an increase of 15.5 percent.
The Chamber of Foreign Trade of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that the coverage of imports by exports in the first half of the year was 28.2 percent, and in the same period of the previous year it was 29.7 percent.
Commenting on this large import, the Chamber reminds that BiH is a signatory to the CEFTA Free Trade Agreement, as well as the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which, among other things, regulate trade relations between countries in the region and the EU and contribute to trade liberalization.
“The free market, continuous marketing with promotion and distribution channels give priority to imported water and non-alcoholic drinks. However, if consumers finally realize that by buying domestic water they are helping themselves and probably consuming better quality water, maybe we can reduce excessive and unnecessary imports.” , they point out from the Chamber.
The Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina added that this gap can only be reduced by greater protection of domestic production in terms of better quality control when importing goods from neighboring countries, increased marketing campaigns of domestic brands and more intensive purchase of domestic products.
