prijava
SARAJEVO, March 6 (FENA) - Fruits and vegetables in 2019 recorded a slight increase in exports compared to the previous year, while at the same time there was a high increase in imports in the amount of 16 percent, according to the analysis of the BiH Foreign Trade Chamber (FTCBiH) and the Sweden/USAID FARMA II project.
Head of the USAID/Sweden FARMA II Fruit and Vegetable Sector Project Velibor Trifković said today at FTCBiH that the total exports amounted to 188 million KM and imports to a record 402 million KM, confirming a lack of production on the domestic market. In 2015, these imports amounted to 293 million KM and increased in the following years. The coverage of imports by exports was 52 percent, which is a slight decrease from the previous year.
“Fruit and vegetable products continue to dominate the trade. Fruits worth 123 million KM were exported, vegetables amounted to 44 million KM and processed products amounted to 21 million KM. In the structure of imports, the share of fruit is about 51 percent worth 206 million KM, vegetables 26 percent or 106 million KM, and processed fruits and vegetables 22 percent or 90 million KM,” said Trifković.
The five key export products, accounting for 52 percent of exports, are frozen raspberries (59 million KM), fresh pears (17 million KM), apples (12 million KM), cornichons (six million KM) and plums (5 million KM).
The representative of the company Bosnaplod Tarik Dobrača said that in 2016, when it was the first year of purchase, they had 1,800 tons of fresh fruit, first of all, cherry and that today they came to almost 6,300 tons of fruit, 60 percent of which is cherry.
“Unfortunately, 80 percent of that is imported from Serbia because for the crops that Bosnaplod, cherry raspberry, and plum, have had bad seasons especially in terms of weather,” said Dobrača, adding that the fall in raspberry production in BiH in the past, in particular, is particularly worrying. He stressed the need for a clear and feasible strategy for the sector and support for primary producers.
(FENA) L. N.
