In the period from January to November 2025, Bosnia and Herzegovina realized a significant import of milk and milk products.
A total of 45,287,865.80 kg of products were imported, worth 234.2 million KM, according to the Directorate for Indirect Taxation.
Imports of milk and cream without additives are the largest in terms of quantity, while cheese and curd bring the highest value.
Other categories, such as butter and milk spreads, whey and malted condensed milk, have a smaller share, but still contribute to the overall market.
Cheese and cottage cheese, in terms of quantity, make up about 10.6 percent of the total import, and dominate in terms of value with more than half of the total value of imports. And fermented dairy products, such as yogurt, kefir and sour milk, have a significant share, both in terms of quantity and value.
Their total import is 13,145,007 kg worth 124,377,692 KM.
On the other hand, the total import of milk and cream is 14,250,320 kg worth 47,255,565 KM.
In addition to them, the total import of butter and milk spreads amounted to 1,536,944 kilograms, worth 20,337,260 KM.
Oscillations
Monthly imports show certain oscillations. The highest volumes were recorded in March and August, while the lowest imports were in October and November.
These trends may be related to seasonal market needs, increased consumption or adjustment of domestic production.
Analysis by month shows that the largest import of milk and cream is recorded in March, while fermented products and cheese reach their peak in August.
Butter and milk spreads and whey record relatively stable imports throughout the year, without major fluctuations.
What about domestic production
Bosnia and Herzegovina currently produces about 55 percent of the milk needed for the domestic market, while the rest must be covered by imports.
However, in practice, more than 70 percent of milk and milk products are imported, which means that imports exceed the quantities that domestic production cannot meet.
Experts warn that imported milk often contains palm oil and other vegetable fats, instead of real milk ingredients, which further endangers the quality of domestic production, according to research by Minela Jašar-Opardija for N1BiH.
Despite the challenges, domestic production is experiencing some growth.
The Tuzla Canton has increased its production to 31 million liters per year, while the Una-Sana Canton is expecting about 43 million liters, which is about 30 percent of the total production of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the production takes place on family farms, where there are no additional employees, and the work is mainly based on work within the family.
However, domestic producers face a number of problems. The lack of state support, high prices of inputs and energy, and low purchase prices of milk (0.90-0.95 KM per liter, while production costs around 1.06 KM) make the competitiveness of domestic production difficult.
For comparison, EU countries allocate more than 500 million euros for the development of agriculture, while Bosnia and Herzegovina allocates around 200 million KM.
Experts appeal to limit excessive imports and to market domestic products first, and only then import quantities that cannot be produced in the country.
Citizens are urged to buy domestic products in order to support local producers, preserve jobs and strengthen the economy, writes Forbes.
