The European Commission today rejected the appeal of Croatia on the export of milk from B&H, thus removing the barrier for the export of milk and dairy products from B&H. The representatives of four dairy companies did not hide their satisfaction after the Minister of Foreign Trade of B&H Mirko Sarovic made the decision of the EC public.
For now, milk and dairy products will be exported to the EU countries by four BH dairies: Meggle, Milkos, Mlijekoprodukt from Bosanska Dubica, and Dairy Livno, which is widely known for its cheeses.
In Milkos, the preparations for the export of products of this dairy to the market of the EU, primarily Croatia, have already begun.
“We have expected this decision and the rejection of the appeal of Croatia. It is good for the agricultural producers in B&H since it is a branch where a lot of people can be employed. From this aspect, we will continue working with our agricultural producers. Our plans are to continue from where we stopped with our potential buyers from Croatia and Italy, who are interested in white cheese such as feta. What we will intensively work on is the development of agricultural producers to whom we want to help to become competitive to their colleagues from the EU”, said the director of the Sarajevo dairy Milkos Adin Fakic.
Fakic added that B&H has quality in this sector, but that the competitiveness lags behind because B&H has a lot smaller agricultural budget than the EU countries.
“As a country with the least of all budgets in the EU, Croatia has six to seven times bigger budget for agriculture than B&H has”, Fakic added. Furthermore, he said that the products of Milkos will be on the shelves in the EU countries no later than ten to fifteen days from now.
“We will export completely new products to Croatia in comparison to those we exported while that country did not yet become a member of the EU. In our program we have new products, and thereby we have adjusted ourselves to the EU market”, said Fakic.
In the dairy Meggle from Bihac, it was said that the decision was expected and that there was no reason at all for the blockade of the export of milk and dairy products from B&H to the EU.
“Our products have met all the standards and legislation of the EU. Knowing that the European Commission reaches all the decision on the basis of arguments which were in favor of B&H, there was no reason at all for stopping. This is our development chance, not only for the dairy industry, but for the primary agriculture. I would like to call on the authorities to stimulate the producers more from the state budgets”, said Kemal Hrnjic, the director of the dairy Meggle Bihac.
Among the exporters is also the dairy Livno, which will place its widely known cheeses on the shelves in the EU countries as soon as possible.
“This decision tells us that what we were doing was right, and that we were unfairly left out. Luckily, it resolved a lot sooner than we thought. We have been given a signal to beware of and work more on the quality of milk, purchase, respecting all the legal regulations, and not to embarrass neither us nor the country”, said Zeljko Marijan, the director of the dairy Livno.
The dairy Livno exported more than 70 percent of its total production to Croatia, before that country became a member of the EU.
“This is a crucial matter for us. We are in the midst of negotiations with Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. The export to Croatia starts on Monday already, and after that to Germany, Czech Republic…”, Marijan added.
As a reminder, the export of dairy products from B&H to the EU should have started on August 26th, but the Veterinary Office was notified that one member of the EU appealed and that the export was stopped.
It turned out that Croatia filed an appeal which said that the relevant inspection should once again visit the approved dairies prior to the beginning of export.
(Source: klix.ba)
