Since last week, Montenegrin traders and importers have had difficulty procuring edible sunflower oil from Serbia, which is why the Ministry of Economic Development will ask the authorities in this neighboring country whether an official decision has been made to ban the export of oil or some other measure, "Vijesti" has learned.
Several Montenegrin traders and food producers told "Vijesta" that last week they were informed by their suppliers from Serbia that they can no longer sell oil to them because a decision was made to ban the export of that product. This also applies to the quantities that were already contracted, and the source of "Vijesti" also says that one contingent of oil was returned from the border to Serbia on Thursday.
Montenegro covers 92 percent of its needs for sunflower oil by importing it from Serbia, so this ban could threaten the supply of this product, but also increase its prices on the domestic market.
Vučić: We stopped a bit
It all started on Monday last week when the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, at a press conference on the geopolitical situation, he also said that there will be major food shortages in the world and stated that there is already a huge demand on the market from the region for sunflower oil.
"At the moment, we have only stopped it, so we will see how we will proceed, because the costs and labor force have increased in Ukraine and because of the higher price of electricity, which is a major producer of sunflower oil. When their price is 7 to 7,5 percent lower, it is actually significantly higher than ours due to transportation costs," said Vučić at the time.
The official decision to ban the export of oil cannot be found on the website of the Government of Serbia or in the Official Gazette of that country, but Vučić's "we have stopped exports a little" is implemented in practice.
MER seeks answers through CEFTA
Yesterday, "Vijesti" asked the Ministry of Agriculture whether they were aware of Serbia's decision to ban the export of edible oil, how it could affect the supply of this basic foodstuff to the citizens of Montenegro, and what they would do to prevent shortages.
"Regarding your inquiry, we inform you that we have been informed through the media about the ban on oil exports, and the reason given is "the huge demand for oil in the region due to the increase in production costs in Ukraine, and that is why exports have been stopped". As we have not yet been informed through official communication channels, we do not know whether it is an official decision made by the Government of Serbia, or whether it is a business decision to stop exports for a short period. The Ministry of Economic Development, as the department responsible for trade and monitoring of the CEFTA agreement, of which Serbia and Montenegro are also members, will send the question to the CEFTA contact point in Serbia, and we can expect an answer tomorrow by the end of the day," the Ministry of Agriculture announced to "Vijesta" yesterday. .
CEFTA is a regional free trade agreement for the countries of the Western Balkans, which prevents or limits trade bans.
Sunflower growers announced protests
Several associations of agricultural producers of sunflowers from this country reacted to the ban on the export of oil from Serbia, stating that this measure destroys the purchase price of sunflowers and causes damage to them, because now the oil factories are not interested in buying them.
The president of the "Stig" Farmers' Association Nedeljko Savić said two days ago that the farmers of seven associations are dissatisfied with the ban on the export of sunflower oil and announced that "in a few days they will react" to the ban, and that "traffic and citizens will suffer the consequences".
He told the Beta agency that, instead of receiving the promised subsidies, farmers will suffer new damage from the suspension of oil exports.
"Now the price of sunflower is about 55 dinars per kilogram, and because of the ban it will surely drop to about 45 dinars, so we will have a new loss in production. The price of three years ago, when sunflower cost about 73 dinars per kilogram, is better explained by how much of a loss it will be," said Savić.
He stated that these associations learned about the decision to ban exports a few days ago from the processors, and that this was confirmed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, when he said that "the huge demand for oil in the region is due to the increase in the cost of producing that product in Ukraine and that because of this, exports from Serbia have stopped a bit at the moment, so we will see how to proceed".
"We will react strongly to that decision, and unfortunately traffic and citizens will suffer the consequences," said Savić, but he did not want to give details about the possible protest.
Serbia is the largest regional producer of edible sunflower oil, and its production, depending on the type, is up to three times higher than domestic needs.
Ministry of Agriculture: There are enough quantities in retail for now
The Ministry of Agriculture told "Vijesta" that Montenegro imports about 90 percent of sunflower oil from Serbia and that for now there is enough quantity in retail.
According to the data of the Monstat Administration for Statistics, Montenegro imported edible sunflower oil for 5,6 million euros for the period January - May this year, of which 5,17 million was purchased from Serbia, which is 92 percent of the total needs.
The import of this product was also recorded from Croatia in the amount of 303 thousand euros, from Ukraine for 70 thousand, Turkey for 25 thousand, Kosovo for 24 thousand and from Italy for 9,3 thousand euros.
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