"Growers here are still waiting, as we haven't received any information about when negotiations with Russia will be able to take place. BiH Minister of Foreign Trade, Mirko Šarović has been trying to arrange a meeting with the Russian phytosanitary inspection agency, but to no avail," lamented Bojan Kecman, Senior associate for the Republic of Srpska Ministry of Agriculture.
"On the plus side, snow has fallen in Bosnia after warm weather in January and the first half of Febuary. The cold weather will be good for the fruit in the coming season."
The ban of apples from Bosnia and Herzogovina was implemented after it had been discovered that some of the apples being sent to Russia had actually come from Poland.
The minister of foreign trade and economic relations of BiH, Mirko Šarovic, recently stated that this decision directly improves the control system and that no part of the decision "crosses over" within the jurisdiction of the entities.
For now, it is a waiting game to see what will happen next. BiH producers stand to lose a lot of money, once again if the ban continues through to the start of the season.
According to Kecman, out of the 23,000 tons of fruit exported to Russia in 2017, 12,700 tons of that total were apples (worth 9 million euros). The previous ban lasted 10 weeks and cost Bosnian producers an estimated €3 million.
For more information:
Bojan Kecman
Ministry of Agriculture-Republic of Srpska
Tel: +387 65 742 293,
Email: b.kecman@mps.vladars.net
bojankecman@gmail.com