Milk and dairy products placed on the European market by 11 dairies from BiH

(Patria) - The Council of Ministers of BiH at its session on Thursday adopted the Analysis of the situation on the milk and dairy products market in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2019-2022, prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

According to this analysis, the milk production and processing sector still maintains stability despite market disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the decline in production and rise in feed prices.

In BiH, a total of 621.33 million litres of raw milk were produced last year, of which 601.2 million litres were cow's milk, 12.9 million litres sheep's milk, and 7.23 million litres goat's milk. Last year's raw milk production recorded an increase of 3% compared to previous years.

Dairies purchase on average up to 40% of the produced quantities of fresh raw cow's milk from domestic producers. Last year, over 250 thousand tonnes were delivered to dairies, at an average price of 0.70 KM per litre, which is 10 pfennigs more than in the previous three years. At the same time, production inputs have been in constant increase since 2019, and in 2022 a rise of between 40% and 60% was recorded.

There are 23 dairies operating in BiH with processing capacities of 350 million litres, and their utilisation rate is around 60%. Milk and dairy products are placed on the European market by 11 dairies from BiH.

Raw milk producers are beneficiaries of incentive funds. During 2022, 81 million KM was paid out in milk premiums, which is 8 million or 11% more than the year before.

The most significant increase in consumer prices was expressed during last year, when for a kilogram of butter it was necessary to set aside on average about 28 KM, hard cheese about 17 KM, a kilogram of margarine about 6 KM, and a litre of milk about 2 KM.

The volume of total foreign trade exchange of milk and dairy products amounted to 337 million KM last year, of which the share of imports in total turnover was 66%, and exports about 34%. The value of total imports of milk and dairy products amounted to 223.8 million KM and recorded an increase of 29% last year compared to the previous year. At the same time, BiH exported milk and dairy products worth 112.9 million KM, representing an increase of 21%. The increase in the value of imports and exports was influenced by the increase in import and export prices of milk and dairy products.

The coverage of imports by exports of milk and dairy products last year was 50% and in the period from 2019 to 2022 it decreased by 9%.

The most milk and dairy products were imported into the BiH market from the European Union (a record 203.34 million KM), which is an increase of 31% compared to the previous year.

Although BiH's milk exports to the European Union market recorded a continuous increase and last year reached almost 26 million KM, Bosnia and Herzegovina still exports the most to the CEFTA market, where last year milk and dairy products worth 86.68 million KM were exported, an increase of 28% compared to the previous year.