The Swiss Program for analyzing imports (SIPPO) presented in Sarajevo the most significant results of the analysis in the disadvantages of the growth of exports of the subcontracting industry in BiH, which includes metalworking, electric engineering, mechanical engineering, plant engineering and electronics.
Fuad Strik, the Director of the Company Strik Consulting that carried out the analysis, said that BiH companies in the metalworking sector for the most part export only parts of finished products. Huge potential lies here, and whose development SIPPO seeks to encourage.
He said that some of the problems are that small and medium-size BiH companies do not have an organized approach to the market, nor a developed sales function.
‘’They do not think about export in a way that makes them look for a partner, but exports when a partner from abroad finds them and offers cooperation. They do not know how competitive they are and how they can assess the sale of their products’’, said Strik.
According to him, SIPPO wants to spread the chain of quality and to promote as many products as possible.
‘’Apart from pig iron and raw aluminum, in BiH we do not have the raw materials in the metal manufacturing sector, and so BiH companies have to import raw materials in relatively small amounts, considering the size of the economy, which for them represents a problem’’, said Strik.
As a third important drawback is the lack of institutional support, except for the Agency for the Promotion of Exports of BiH (BHEPA) that operates under the auspices of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH.
‘’And next to all these weaknesses, exports of BiH companies in this sector in the last two years rose by around 12 percent annually, which best shows how much potential there is and how the results can be if the drawbacks are eliminated’’, claims Strik.
