Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina has about 60 percent of its area under forest. On the basis of the existing raw materials, a strong wood industry has developed that produces a wide range of export-oriented products and is the only branch of the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina that achieves a surplus in international trade.
Of the 1,500 companies in the wood industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the majority are export-oriented. Along with the metal industry, this industry has traditionally been a pillar of the domestic economy. The Zenica Doboj Canton daily records an increase in the number of companies turning to the final product for which they are looking for a buyer in EU countries. Among them is a company from Žepče, whose exports today make up as much as 90%, and they are looking for new workforce every day.
“The state should think a little more about secondary schools, colleges and incentives by sending employees to education not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also in Germany, Italy in particular”, says Ivica Đuzel, owner of a private wood processing company.
In the first three months of this year, export growth in ZDC was over 11%. However, the export itself depends on several factors that must be acted upon in time, which is why the Chamber of Foreign Trade is working on networking domestic and foreign companies.
“What the wood processing industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina currently needs is market diversification, since we largely depend on the German market, where demand has fallen by up to 30% due to the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” the Foreign Trade Chamber (FTC) said.
“Due to the change in style, we expect that there will be a decline, but we expect growth in the production of upholstered furniture in ZDC. We think that in the end it will be balanced”, says Samir Šibonjić, Minister of Economy of ZDC.
The biggest problems of wood processors are within the country itself, such as the long-announced reduction in the burden of wages, but it is also necessary to encourage companies that will produce products with greater added value.
“Why should we sell a board to Germany, from which someone will make a chair and put it in the living room, if we can make him a chair and increase the value of the product itself,” emphasizes Đuzel.
“We believe that in the future the ban on the export of raw materials (roundwood) has an economic justification with the aim of providing conditions for a rounded production cycle in the wood processing industry and preserving the competitiveness of the wood industry in the segment of semi-final and final wood products,” FTC points out.
Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the top of the list of wood-processing countries, and in order to further strengthen exports, and thus the domestic economy, the perennial request of the members of the Association of Wood Industry and Forestry FTC is that producers of final and semi-final products have priority.
