In the first two months of this year was recorded the trend of increase of exports of BH wood industry, especially the export of final products made of wood. Export-import ratio amounted to 416.9 %,” as noted at the session of the Assembly of the Association of Wood Industry and Forestry of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH in Sarajevo.
Secretary of this association Selma Basagic said that exports of BH wood sector amounted to more than 178 million BAM in the first two months of this year, which is 6.5 % more than the same period last year.
“When it comes to the total value of exports, the share of furniture is 44.9 % (approximately 80 million BAM) and it records an increase, while the share of sawn wood was 22.7 %, and forestry products 12.3 %,” said Basagic.
She recalled that the total exports of the BiH wood sector amounted to one billion and 189 million BAM in 2016, which represents an increase of 12.1 % compared to the previous year. Exports of furniture amounted to 37.7 percent of total exports of the wood sector in BiH, thus more than 448 million BAM. The share of sawn wood was 28.7 %, and forestry products 14.6 %. The coverage of imports by exports in this sector was 360.9 %, which is a bit more favorable than in 2015.
President of the Association of Wood Industry and Forestry Suhad Eco said that they started working on the development of the strategy three months ago, which will be sent to all relevant institutions in order to solve the problems and challenges that this industry is facing with.
“Producers are facing with the problem of procurement of raw materials, regarding its price and quality, as well as continuous delivery, and there is also a problem of the lack of laboratory or institution that would issue the certificates that will be internationally recognized. The problem is also the lack of benefits when exporting products, and we think that companies that are engaged in exports should receive incentives,” said Eco.
(Source: ekapija.com)
