Residents of Bosnia-Herzegovina drank 189,198 tonnes of imported water last year, totaling 171,176 million BAM, an increase of 16.79 million BAM or almost 10% compared to the previous year, eKapija business portal reports.
This was shown by data from the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of BiH, according to which 110,356 tons of water were exported last year, which is about 10,000 tons less than in 2018. Import and export of water from BiH, as explained in ITA BiH, means natural or artificial mineral water, and carbonated water without additional sugar or other sweetener or flavoring, as well as mineral and carbonated water with additional sugar or other sweeteners.
“Most of the water on the shelves of domestic markets came from the region, that is, from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, and from France and Germany,” was stated by ITA. According to their data, bottles of domestic water are mainly marketed in Croatia, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Switzerland.
Economist Zoran Pavlovic says that domestic producers do not have the support of the competent ministries in BiH, which is why they cannot compete.
“Importers often play with prices by placing goods from abroad on the BiH market at lower prices than our products, which enables them to support their countries of origin. It is absurd that BiH, a country rich in drinking water sources, does not export as much as it should,” Pavlovic told Glas Srpske.
He added that big problems and marketing, for which domestic producers do not have enough money.
