BUSINESSMAN OR ILLUSIONIST? KABIRI'S ALUMINUM NOT AMONG TOP 10 EXPORTERS IN FIRST 10 MONTHS OF THIS YEAR!

(Patria) - "Aluminij's success secret is the great experience and expertise that our employees have gained for decades, which has been carefully documented and preserved. Generations of families have been dedicatedly working at Aluminij, creating its heritage, values, and knowledge. Thanks to their dedicated work and the support of the authorities, especially the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aluminij has regained stability and has once again become the largest importer and exporter in BiH."

This is what Amir Gross Kabiri, the Israeli businessman and lessee of the Mostar Aluminij plant, said at the end of August this year to the portal Nacional.live. In the last two years, with the full support of some media outlets, he has become a real star of their "business" and "economy" sections, with the accompanying headline usually reading - "owner of the largest BiH exporter".

However, is that really the case?

Based on information obtained by "Slobodna Bosna", things are not quite like that. That is why we contacted the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH (UIO) with the intention of checking what the list of the largest exporters from our country really looks like.

Interestingly, the companies managed by this Israeli businessman are not even among the top 10 exporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from January 1 to October 31, 2023.

In first place is ArcelorMittal from Zenica, followed by Sisecam Soda from Lukavac, Mješoviti holding "Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske" from Trebinje, EFT - Rudnik i Termoelektrana from Stanari, FEAL from Široki Brijeg, BIMAL from Brčko, Natron-Hayat from Maglaj, Energy Financing Team from Bileća, Violeta from Grude, and finally SHP Celex from Banja Luka.

According to last year's reports, Kabiri's Aluminij was in first place with an export value of KM 900,217,608. However, this year it has been overtaken by companies whose exports were much lower last year, such as Violeta from Grude, whose export value last year was KM 111,186,034, or SHP CELEX from Banja Luka with last year's export of KM 52,439,155.

Unfortunately, we have not yet managed to obtain data on the export value for the first 10 months of 2023 for each of the listed Top 10 companies, which we will strive to obtain in the coming period.