Roundup: BiH milk to enter EU market

Milk produced by dairy farms in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can for the first time enter the European Union market from Thursday.

It is expected that first quotas of milk from BiH reach the EU market by end of September, after the green light was given at a meeting of the European Commission and EU member states in Brussels on Sept. 9.

The EU decision came despite an objection from Croatia, which surprized both authorities and milk producers of BiH.

On June 19, the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) authorized BiH milk exports to EU markets. Croatia, however, filed complaint to the EU, arguing that the export of milk and dairy products from BiH to the EU would mainly affect Croatian producers.

Prime Minister of Croatia Zoran Milanovic said his country made the decision to halt import of milk from BiH to protect its exporters, "we are asking that the quotas from 2013 still be respected."

Quotas mentioned by Milanovic were from the Central European Free Agreement (CEFTA), which was agreed between Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. CEFTA entered into force in 2007.

When Croatia joined the EU on July 1, 2013, the state automatically left CEFTA. Croatia has since been trying to renegotiate with BiH authorities to accept quotas for Croatian milk and dairy products.

BiH authorities did not accept the quotas as among all CEFTA countries. BiH is the biggest market for Croatian goods and products.

According to official Croatian figures, Croatian exports to BiH in 2014 amounted to some 1.22 billion euros (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) while BiH exported 460.3 million euros of products to Croatia.

Semsudin Dedic, Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry from the Federation of BiH told Xinhua that the suspension of exports raised awareness among BiH citizens to purchase domestic products.

"It tells us that activities of promotion and purchase of domestic products needs to continue," he said. Endit