The Ministries of Economic Development and Agriculture expect to receive official information today or tomorrow whether Serbia has banned the export of edible sunflower oil or introduced other measures, due to which Montenegrin traders and importers have been unable to buy this basic foodstuff from their regular suppliers since Tuesday last week. of this country.
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The interlocutor of "Vijesti" from the trading company, which is a significant importer of oil, said that the supplier informed them that all oil producers had a meeting with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, who verbally told them to stop exporting oil, without any official decision, allegedly due to the expected increase in oil prices at the global level.
He stated that another Montenegrin company imported a significant amount of this oil a day or two before the ban and that they do not expect shortages on the retail market, but that prices may rise.
The Belgrade newspaper "Danas" announced yesterday that a ban on the export of sunflower oil is in force in Serbia, but that "it seems that the measure is informal, since the Government has not passed any decree on the ban".
Representatives of the association of sunflower producers told the newspaper that this measure already affects the exchange purchase price, as well as that they learned about the export ban from the processors, and the processors from the customs officers, when their trucks with goods were returned from the border. They also say that this measure was not published anywhere, but that Vučić mentioned it "by the way" during an address.
The president of one of the producers' associations, Jovan Jovanov, said that on June 26, the farmers learned about this decision from the processors, and not through official documents or from the ministry.
"The processors informed us that the export of raw, unrefined and refined sunflower oil is prohibited. This can directly affect the price of sunflowers, which will be harvested in 25, 30 days. There is no regulation for this, but only the president's statement that exports were briefly stopped due to the high demand for oil in Europe. "It seems that a letter was sent only to customs to return the trucks with oil, so that it cannot be exported," said Jovanov for "Danas".
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" said that the first trucks of oil ordered from Montenegro were returned from the Serbian border on Tuesday without explanation.
"The Government of Montenegro has not been formally informed about the restriction of oil exports from Serbia to Montenegro, however, we are currently having consultations with our colleagues from the Government of Serbia in order to determine the substantiated facts through the CEFTA mechanisms," the Vice President of the Government for Economic Policy and Economic Policy told "Vijesti" yesterday. Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj.
According to him, the Government of Montenegro has conveyed its interest to the Government of Serbia in order to get answers as to whether any official decision of the Government of Serbia has been made on the suspension or restriction of oil exports.
"The information we have is that we will receive an answer after internal consultations with the Government of Serbia during tomorrow. Further steps will be determined by the Government of Montenegro when we have all the necessary official information and data. "In order to avoid a shortage of supplies or an enormous increase in oil prices in Montenegro, the Ministry of Economic Development is currently conducting the necessary analysis in the part of the results that the action of limiting margins had on the market in Montenegro and will react in a timely manner," said Đeljošaj.
He said that July and August this year will be without limited margins on basic products (flour, sugar, oil and salt).
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", Đeljošaj directly called the Minister of Trade of Serbia, Tomislav Momirović, in connection with this issue in order to get additional information.
Montenegro provides around 90 percent of its oil needs by purchasing in Serbia, while symbolic quantities are purchased in Croatia, Ukraine, Kosovo and Italy.
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