In the last five years, the sector of medicinal plants, forest fruits and honey in Bosnia and Herzegovina has recorded an increase in exports from 29 to 41 million BAM, and in 2019 it increased by 4% compared to the previous year, eKapija news portal reports.
The export / import ratio is 246%, or 2.46 BAM is exported per 1 BAM of imports, according to the analysis of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH (VTK BiH) and the USAID / Sweden FARMA II project.
According to the Deputy Head of the Sweden / USAID FARMA II project, Feda Begovic, the export structure is dominated by wild (forest) fungi, which is sold mostly in the dried state.
In the case of essential oils, there is an increase in exported quantities, but also a decrease in the value of exports, due to a further decrease in the price of oil from immortelle on the world market.
With regard to honey, exports increased from nine to 23 tonnes, from 167,000 BAM to 367,000 BAM. Although traditionally about 90% of the needs are met from domestic production, honey in foreign trade has a deficit of 2.2 million BAM, and we import 14.5 kilograms of one kilogram of honey exported from BiH.
Begovic stated that the average price of exported honey is over 16 BAM, while the average price of imported honey is below 8 BAM. The lowest recorded price of imported honey was only 4.37 / kg BAM for honey from Serbia, which calls into question the quality of that honey.
Exports of medicinal plants, forest fruits and honey were realized in 46 markets worldwide, dominated by the EU market. We export around 3 million BAM from the sector to the EU countries monthly.
“The largest network of customers has companies that export essential oils, where the number of markets in the last five years has increased from 23 to 37 countries. Essential oils are mainly exported to France, Belgium, Croatia, the USA and Slovenia, and other markets include Vietnam, Mexico, Canada and Australia. Mushrooms are dominated by Switzerland and Italy,” said Darko Pehar from the VTKBiH Economy Sector.
