Bosnian Dairy Farmers Seek Protection as Farms Shut Down

Four associations representing areas that produce nearly 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s raw milk submitted their request to state institutions at the end of September. They called for measures to protect domestic production and reduce imports, and said they had received no response from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations for the second consecutive week.

The associations reported that three dairies had announced a further cut of five pfennigs in the price paid for milk. A cooperative had already suspended purchases completely. Farmers said purchase prices had stagnated while production costs remained high.

More than 30 farms in the Republic of Srpska have sold their cattle and ended production, according to the sector representatives. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two large farms in Živinice were also recently closed over the same problems.

Data attached to the request showed that Bosnia and Herzegovina imported 33.35m kilograms of milk and milk products between January and the end of August this year. The value of those imports was reported at 159.70m BAM.

The farmers said the closure of farms would reduce the quantity of milk produced domestically and increase reliance on imported products. They also said the dairy sector provides direct or indirect livelihoods for tens of thousands of people.

The associations proposed surcharges ranging from 0.38 BAM to 3.19 BAM per kilogram, with the amount varying by product. They also requested customs quotas for selected categories of dairy products and set out a proposed method for distributing revenue generated by the measures.