The Chamber of Foreign Trade of Bosnia and Herzegovina (VTKBiH) requests an urgent reaction from the competent institutions regarding the information that the Government of Serbia has adopted a Decree on the introduction of a temporary measure to ensure the economic stability of industries of strategic importance, which limits the import of certain iron and steel products from January 1 to June 30, 2026.
The regulation includes groups of products that concern BiH, namely: ribbed concrete steel and hot-rolled wire in coils, as well as ribbed concrete steel in rods. The measure is introduced for a period of six months and will be implemented through the system of tariff quotas, after which the import of these products will be subject to a customs duty of 50 percent. In order to supply the market evenly, individual quotas are divided into quarterly maximums for the period from January 1 to March 31, that is, until June 30 of this year, with the possibility of transferring the unused quota from the first to the second quarter. Quotas will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the order in which customs declarations are accepted.
“The quotas introduced by the Government of Serbia do not follow real trade flows because, as stated in the Decree, they were made on the basis of data for the period from 2020-2024. year. By looking at the mentioned Regulation, especially the part of the defined quotas that refer to the mentioned products for Bosnia and Herzegovina, we express concern on behalf of the companies, i.e. the exporters of these products to Serbia. Namely, based on the data of VTKBiH, it is evident that in the first quarter of 2025, B&H exports have exceeded the allowed quarterly quota,” they emphasize from VTKBiH.
It is evident that when determining the quotas, the following parameters were not fully taken into account: the cumulative volume of real trade flows, regional distribution models and the real market share of producers and suppliers from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Also, the adoption of the Regulation limiting the duty-free placement of goods within the CEFTA countries at the very end of one business year is a limiting factor for long-term contracts that companies from BiH have with companies on the market of the Republic of Serbia.
“We especially point out the detention of trucks at border crossings, which has already occurred in practice and currently represents the most critical problem for exporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Namely, we have been informed by our exporters that, in addition to the problem of quotas, already in the first days of 2026, exporters are also facing longer delays at the border caused by additional quota monitoring procedures by the customs authorities of Serbia,” the statement added.
The consequences of retention are already measurable and serious: direct and growing financial costs (truck stops, penalties, additional transport costs), delays in deliveries to contracted customers in the Republic of Serbia, interruptions in production and construction supply chains, serious damage to the reputation of suppliers from Bosnia and Herzegovina as reliable and predictable partners.
Taking all this into account, VTKBiH asks the competent institutions in BiH to urgently react to the competent institutions of the Republic of Serbia and CEFTA structures due to the economic repercussions of the effects of the said Regulation on the free, duty-free flow of goods within CEFTA countries, VTKBiH announced.
