Import Growing From Serbia

During just nine months of this year, Serbia has exported goods to Kosovo worth over 300m euros, until Kosovo's exports to Serbia for the same period amount to no more than 35m euros.

Kosovo Customs spokesman Adriatic Stavileci has made known to Radio Free Europe that compared to last year Exports from Serbia have scored 15 percent growth.

“The value of imports from Serbia by the end of September this year shows there is an increase in the value of these goods. If in the same period last year we have had 284m euros of goods imported from Serbia, during this year we have 327m euros, there is an increase of 43m euros”.

Until last year, Kosovo's export to Serbia during this period has been worth 35m euros, while during the past year it has been 24m euros, there is an increase of 15m euros or 44 per cent”, Stavileci says.

Import of products from Serbia, Stevilec adds, is focused on the food industry, but there are other industrial products, while Kosovo export to Serbia is focused on trees, vegetables and construction materials.

Kosovo, according to Statistics Agency data, continues to face High trade deficit. Export contributions to commercial volume, according to 2016 data, were very low, at about $310m, while imports of nearly 3 billion euros.

Representatives of businesses in Kosovo say Kosovo's market dependence on foreign products tells of the unfavourable fiscal policies facing Kosovo producers.

Kosovo Business Alliance Chairman Agim Sahini It says Kosovo businesses continue to face an unfair competition, informal economy and other problems that enable their development.

These barriers, Shahini adds, make Kosovo not competitive with its products.

Kosovo remains the most powerful consumer country compared to the Western Balkan countries. The reasons and causes are that local production is burdened with unnecessary burdens of fiscal policies. This makes Kosovo the most powerful explorer of willing money”.

Kosovo with this weak local economy will have to focus on increasing production and exporter capacities and supporting economic policies with a long-term” strategy, Sahin says.

According to Sahin, many of the local products can be replaced by products coming from Serbia and other countries in the region and the European Union.

He says that as companies from Serbia manage to have large markets in Kosovo, Kosovo products more difficult to penetrate Serbia's market.

Serbia remains our main partner in terms of imports from them, until Kosovo products remain unwanted in Serbia. This should raise our consciousness in both institutions and consumers. We have some developed sectors as we continue to import the same products we produce, thus making competition to our products”, Sahin says.

By contrast, one of the reasons for increasing trade exchanges with Serbia, which underscores business representatives has been the CEFTA Free Trade Agreement, where Western Balkan countries are members of this mechanization and no customs duties.