State of agro-food foreign trade in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Trade of agricultural products plays an important role in food security, development of production and processing of products, strengthening the economy and GDP growth. The aim of this paper is to establish the trend of trade of food, live animals, drinks and tobacco in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Foreign trade of food products in B&H has been investigated for the past six years (2012-2017). In B&H, annual import of agricultural and food products exceeds BAM 2.5 million and the export is approximately BAM 600 million. Food production is a strategic interest of every country. The coverage of import by export was the highest in 2017 (29.9%) and 2016 (29.4%), while the lowest was in 2014 (18.4%). During the investigated period, there was a deficit of trade in B&H. Both export and import in agro-food sector have been increasing recently, while the volume of export has a higher growth than import.

Food security issues in the former Yugoslav countries

“…The results of our research, compared to other research papers on food security (Brankov and Lovre, 2017; Franić et al, 2014; Martinovska-Stojcheska and Surry, 2011; Milovanović et al, 2018; Plut, 2012; Rajović and Bulatović, 2016; Zurovec et al, 2015), give a comprehensively analyze of key factors: the general level of countries’ economic development, population growth, investments in agriculture, and foreign trade in the agri-food products on the level of food security in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.…”

“…Zurovec et al (2015) analyzed the state of the agricultural sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the impact of potential climate change on agricultural production. Milovanović et al (2018) investigated the impact of agricultural trade on food security, development of production and processing of products, strengthening the economy and GDP growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rajović and Bulatović (2016) dealt with the issue of sustainable development and explored the possibility of increasing production and market expansion in northeastern Montenegro.…”

Assessing the Agricultural Trade Complementarity of the Czech Republic and Countries in Western Balkan

“…The analysis of agrarian trade for the mentioned countries in Western Balkan was done by numerous authors (Ćejvanović et al, 2014;Hodo, 2014;Jovanović and Despotović, 2014;Jovanović et al, 2015;Braha et al, 2017;Matkovski et al, 2017;Matkovski et al, 2018;Milovanović et al, 2018;Marković et al, 2019;Mrdalj et al, 2019;Brkić et al, 2021;Matkovski et al, 2021) applying different methodologies, and calculating different indices of foreign trade exchange, mainly those related to determining the competitiveness of an individual country in foreign trade in agricultural and food products. Matkovski et al (2017) analysed the effects of trade liberalization on the performances of foreign trade in agrarian products and found that liberalization had a positive effect on the intensification of Serbia's foreign trade with other CEFTA and EU countries.…”

“…Brkić et al (2021) found low intensity and vertical nature of the agrarian intra-industry trade of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the EU countries. Milovanović et al (2018) found that Bosnia and Herzegovina's agrarian exports and imports have been increasing recently, while the volume of agrarian exports have a higher growth rate than of imports. Mrdalj et al (2019) analysed the agrarian trade of poultry, pork and beef meat between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of the world.…”