Bozalija: Bosniaks are carriers in their own country

The Croatian company "Agrokor", owned by Croatian millionaire Ivica Todorić, is preparing to take over the Slovenian "Mercator". Todorić, who also owns "Konzum", currently the largest retail chain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been collecting money for months for the agreed takeover of the largest Slovenian chain. Izet Bozalija, owner of the BiH retail chain Hoše komerc, told the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) that this is a done deal.

- Konzum is not taking over, it has already taken over the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been politically approved for it to take over the market, and we are small pawns here. We Bosniaks have become carriers – said Bozalija.

This will disrupt the principle of a free market in the BiH market, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

If this is realized, Todorić will own "Konzum", "Mercator", and the "DP" chain, and these companies jointly cover a huge part of the market in BiH, and thus he could control the entire market. In that case, the biggest problem arises for domestic producers, as it will be even harder for them to get on the shelves of this chain.

Although the Competition Council of BiH told NAP that according to the Law on Competition, they can either prohibit the concentration or conditionally approve it by implementing appropriate structural or other measures if the market shares of the concentration participants in the relevant market exceed 40 percent, Bozalija is of the opinion that "The Competition Council can prohibit it, but the question is whether it will".

In addition to owning a chain of markets, Bozalija also has his own brand of food products. He says that he has very few of his products in Konzum's retail outlets and that he mostly works with Amko komerc.