Trade blockade / Albania imports 2.4% of total food imports from Kosovo, half is beer

According to official INSTAT data, of the total food imports, we get 2.4% from Kosovo markets.

In 2021, Albania imported ALL 130 billion in food and beverages in total, while the imports of this group from Kosovo were ALL 3 billion, or 2.4%.

Half of food imports from Kosovo were in the form of beverages, mainly beer which is not sanctioned by the decision of the Kosovo government.

The rest consists of flour, dairy and other foods with a total value of about 1 billion ALL by 2021. The share of food in sanctions accounts for less than 1% of total food imports.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said yesterday at the Government meeting that the purpose of this decision is to ensure the supply of citizens with products such as wheat, corn, flour, edible oil, etc.

Exports of goods “Made in Kosovo” in February, according to data from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, amounted to 65.2 million euros, while imports amounted to 414.7 million euros.

In 2021, Albania imported ALL 130 billion (1.06 billion) euros in food from abroad to meet the needs of domestic consumption.

While it exported in the same year only 44 billion ALL (361 million euros), according to INSTAT data. Imports were three times higher than exports, making our country a net importer of food products with total dependence on foreign markets.

This high dependence occurs even though the agricultural sector is the largest in our country’s economy with about 20.8% of Gross Value Added (2020), the highest level in Europe, according to a comparison made by Eurostat. Even in Ukraine, which is at the top of the largest global exporters of cereals and basket foods, agriculture occupies only 9 percent of the economy.

Albania has an agricultural sector with a size almost three times higher than the regional average, but on the other hand has the highest dependence on imports from other countries in the region.

Although there is a favorable climate and favorable water resources for agricultural crops, Albanian products are not competitive as the government provides the lowest level of subsidies for the sector compared to the region and Europe and lacks economies of scale from surface fragmentation.

For this reason the last two decades farmers abandoned the cultivation of wheat and corn, as the cost of production was higher than the retail price of imported products in retail markets. Out of ALL 130 billion that were food imports in total in 2021, over ALL 12 billion (10%) were wheat imports.

Referring to INSTAT data on imports over the years, the share of food imports to total imports is 11.4%. / B. Hoxha / Monitor.

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