Although according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food prices in January were at their lowest level in more than a year, this is not the case in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The FAO, which provides data on food and agriculture for more than 245 countries as a key source of information and statistics, points to a 0.6 percent drop in prices in its annual comparison for the first month of 2026, but information from several of our producer protection associations indicates that this trend has not taken hold in our country.
“We have not noticed that some of the prices have decreased, not significantly. In practice, prices may not be rising, but consumers, I believe, are mostly complaining about poverty,” said the president of the Consumers’ Association of the Kakanj Municipality “Potrošač” Ferida Kulović.
She pointed out that it is clear that the prices of basic foodstuffs should be reduced, especially since it is often the case that due to the increase in the price of an energy source, e.g. gas, which has indeed increased in our country, prices automatically ‘go wild’.
She added that citizens complain about prices and that when her association notices an ‘abnormal price’, it reports it to the federal inspection.
The price increase, she pointed out, is particularly noticeable in the case of fruit and vegetables.
“Citizens’ complaints mostly related to fruit and vegetables. Specifically, the price of spinach, which ranges from eight to ten marks, was compared to the price of a kilogram of meat. Fruit has also become significantly more expensive recently, so the price of grapes ranges from 9 to 12 marks. What pensioner can afford that?,” asks Kulović.
She noted that the prices of lemons and bananas, fruits that are not grown in our region, have generally increased, but that from that perspective, the mentioned increase in the price of spinach, which is a common agricultural crop in BiH, is worrying.
The president of the Posavina County Citizens’ Association “Odžak Consumers’ Club” Redžo Omerbašić added that the situation on the ground is not great, but that prices are stabilizing.
“Purchasing power has decreased by several percent, so we expect a slight stabilization of prices in the first half of the year. Of course, with the payment of higher pensions and benefits to workers, this will change in the foreseeable future, because food prices follow the prices of energy, gas and electricity,” Omerbašić emphasized to Fena.
He says that it often happens that a surplus of goods appears on the market and a reduction occurs, which specifically led to a lower price of chicken meat, and that because of this phenomenon the price of flour is also within normal limits, but one phenomenon still worries him.
“Citizens complained more in November and December than now, especially about bakery products and meat, the price of which has tripled compared to the period two years ago. Beef used to cost between 10 and 12 marks, and now it is 30. It is inexplicable to me, because processors import meat, there is no production. There is no investment in agriculture, fattening, the agricultural sector is neglected, so we rely on imports, and a country that imports and does not feed is not a good economic policy,” concluded Omerbašić.
