Bosnia and Herzegovina imported medicines worth over one billion marks

News3 min čitanja

Bosnia and Herzegovina broke the record when it comes to the import of medicines and medical supplies. In 2025, for the first time, we had an import value of more than one billion KM.

Our country is largely dependent on the import of medicines, because the domestic pharmaceutical industry does not produce sufficient quantities of therapies for the needs of the population. The import of medicines is one of the key features of the healthcare system and market in the country.

Year-on-year growth

According to official data from statistical institutions and the Administration for Indirect Taxation, the import of medicines in BiH is growing year after year, and medicines are among the most important imported products in terms of value, although they do not belong to the most mass goods in terms of quantity.

Official international trade statistics show that Bosnia and Herzegovina primarily imports medicines from Germany, Slovenia, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia and Croatia. These data confirm that most of the drugs on the market come from the countries of the European Union and the region.

Data from the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina show that the majority of drugs on the domestic market come from foreign producers, while domestic production takes a much smaller share, which confirms the long-term trend of dominance of imports over the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

Domestic producers are mainly engaged in the production of generic drugs and certain medical preparations, while most specialized therapies, vaccines and oncological drugs are imported.

Bosnia and Herzegovina faces several key challenges, among which are high dependence on imports, weaker domestic production of specialized medicines, disruptions in global supply chains, rising transport and procurement costs, and market sensitivity to price changes on the international market.

Experts warn that the strengthening of domestic production could contribute to greater security of supply and less dependence on imports, but that this requires significant investments and institutional support.

The highest amount

According to the data of the Directorate for Indirect Prevention in 2025, the total import of medicines and medical supplies amounted to 1,008,613,535.09 KM, which is a significantly higher amount than the year before when it was 941,406,136.41 KM.

It should be said that the total mass of imported goods last year was 9,480,629.11 kilograms, in contrast to the year before when it was 9,179,871.18 kilograms. This is the largest amount that was imported into BiH, according to the data of the ITA of BiH.

Tariff mark Medicines consisting of mixed or unmixed products for therapeutic or prophylactic use carry the highest import value in 2025. The amount after 12 months of the year for us was 766,939,208.93 KM, reports Zenicablog.

Then follows the label Human blood; animal blood prepared for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic use; antisera, other blood fractions and immune products, modified or not or obtained by biotechnological procedures or otherwise; vaccines, toxins, cultures of microorganisms (except yeasts) and similar products. A little less than 200 million KM (199,192,224.62 KM) was spent for this type of product.

Last year’s import of pharmaceutical goods amounted to more than 27 million, while cotton wool, gauze, bandages and similar products were imported with a value of less than 13 million KM.