In the first four months of this year, Bosnia and Herzegovina imported water in the amount of 66,651,352 marks, mostly from the countries of the region, confirmed Feni from the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH.
In that period, a total of 62,427,551 liters of water were imported, including natural or artificial mineral and carbonated waters, mostly from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.
At the same time, during the same period, a total of 35,124,381 liters of water worth 13,593,598 marks were exported from BiH, also mostly to the countries of the region, with Croatia and Serbia leading the way.
The chamber also commented on the frequently asked question – why do we import so much water in addition to our natural resources and when we are a country rich in these natural resources, emphasizing that “free market, constant and very expensive marketing campaign of famous brands, distribution and efficient sales channels facilitate better placement of imported waters on the domestic market “.
They further state that consumer awareness is not sufficiently expressed when it comes to the importance of buying domestic products.
“Only this gap can be reduced by greater protection of domestic production in terms of better control when importing goods from neighboring countries, increased marketing campaign of domestic brands and more intensive purchase of domestic products,” said the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH.
Economic analyst Igor Gavran says it is easy to explain the increase in imports, but it is harder to explain the behavior of BiH residents.
”Why, unfortunately, there is such an increase in imports, and not so much an increase in domestic water consumption, this can be partly explained by the fact that foreign competitors have far stronger marketing, are more available in cafes, advertising, but, in essence, the largest part of it is up to the citizens themselves,” Gavran states.
Cheaper product
”And again, citizens choose to buy imported water, for me, it is more of a psychiatric than an economic issue,” Gavran emphasizes.
Facilitating the business of domestic water producers, he says, will help them to be able to offer a cheaper product, but also invest money in marketing to be more competitive in the market, Avaz writes.
