Bosnia's Embattled Dairy Farmers Seek New Markets

Bosnian dairy farmers have lost around 15 million euro a year since neighbouring Croatia joined the European Union and started enforcing food and veterinary standards that Bosnia does not meet.

“Around 60 to 70 per cent of milk production in Bosnia and Herzegovina was exported to Croatia before July 1 last year. That was 64 million litres of milk alone,” Duljko Hasic, of the Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber, recalled.

“Now we have to find alternative markets for all of that,” he added.

Hasic said Bosnian institutions should have prepared themselves for the challenge of meeting EU food standards long before Croatia joined the EU last summer.

Once Bosnia creates the right conditions, EU officials will come to Bosnia and check whether its producers meet European standards. 

So far, this has not happened, although more than a year has passed since domestic producers were banned from exporting to Croatia.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be able to ask the EU Food and Veterinary Office to come to inspect until the preparations are finished,” Hasic noted.

In the meantime, some milk farmers have found alternatives for their exports to the so-called CEFTA countries.

“However, those countries are moving forward in enforcing tougher standards and although they do not block Bosnian exports, we stand to lose those markets as well,” he warned.

One of the dairy companies that was banned from the Croatian market after it joined the EU was the company Milkos.

“We managed to find alternative markets in Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro or Serbia,” Emir Vilic, from Milkos, said.

“But it took us three to four months to switch to them, although most of us succeeded in the...