The director of the Sarajevo dairy company “Milkos”, Adin Fakic, is currently in Croatia. Having met with potential buyers for the company’s products, Fakic has negotiated new business conditions and has discussed the market situation with the Croatians. However, despite any deals that have been established – or will be established – B&H cannot export milk to this country, nor to any other country of the EU.
The European Commission yesterday postponed the implementation of the decision to export milk from B&H to the EU. The decision was made due to the appeal of one of the member countries.
“In general, the message being sent this way is that anyone can slap B&H ‘in the face’, and precisely the farmers suffer because of that. It is of great disappointment, given that we are a dairy company with 100 percent domestic capital and we purchase our milk from subcontractors. We are disappointed, but not surprised. B&H is a country with whom everyone plays. These political games are being played over the backs of the companies who are working hard in this country, and the backs of the farmers, which is an even greater sorrow”, Adin Fakic considers.
Fakic reminded people that about 200 million liters of milk are produced annually in B&H. In comparison to Croatia, which produces around 600 million liters of milk, or Serbia, which produces 1.2 billion liters of milk per year, B&H is still on the low production list. B&H has state level incentives amounting to 60 million EUR, while Croatia has a 300 million EUR state budget for agriculture, and Slovenia, 850 million EUR.
“The funny thing is that the decision of the European Commission was made the same day when certain dairies began export. It reflects the sad reality of our country. It is important that the citizens of B&H have their say now and continue to purchase domestic products because those are high-quality products, and the only way to fight against such things is to buy products with the ‘Made in B&H’ label”, said the director of Milkos.
The export realized by B&H to the EU is quantitatively negligible, given the amount of milk produced in B&H annually. Fakic added that now it only remains to wait for September 16th, when the appeal of that unnamed country – the EU member that appealed – will be reconsidered. Fakic expressed hope that the Ministry of Foreign Trade of B&H and the Veterinary Office of B&H, together with the representatives from various dairy companies, will reach the best solution for this situation.
(Source: klix.ba/ photo novovrijeme)
