Producers complain that local products are more expensive than imported ones

In some cases, the prices of products produced in Kosovo are higher than those of imports in the Kosovo market. Local producers are not facing unfair competition in the market. For this, manufacturers criticize dealers for affecting their profit margins.

The Producers' Club blames the traders, while the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo invites the responsible institutions to conduct an analysis in the market to prevent this phenomenon.

However, for one of the local producers in the country, it is unacceptable that the price of local products is higher than the imported one.

The Chairman of the Producers' Club, Berat Mustafa, has accused the traders, who, according to him, are unilaterally setting the profit margin.

"The analyzes that we do as producers, local producers have never raised their prices. The prices of local producers are always more competitive than the products coming from imports. The network of models for sale, because they have the margin, higher costs, large space, large number of workers, different rents and they are forced to raise the prices higher, otherwise the manufacturers are competitive. Because, if we were not competitive, we could not succeed as a producer with this small production we have", said Mustafa.

The owner of one of the local businesses in Kosovo, Shaqir Palushi, says that in no way does a locally produced product have a higher price than an imported one.

"One of the factors that makes this happen is that local producers, some of them are small producers and the cost of products is much higher than those of companies that are international corporations and have a consolidated market and production, but this does not he reasons, because the consumer does not care if you are a big or small producer, he cares about the price being competitive. In no way does it make a product produced in the country higher in price than that of a company, even more so if it is a question of companies that are renowned and with proven products and quality", said Palushi.

Among other things, Palushi demands more checks by inspectors in the market, as according to him there are cases when even the normal price and margin are misused by traders.

"There are cases when even the normal price and margin are misused by traders and I believe that this should be more controlled by the Market Inspectorate so that it is not abused, especially in this time of crisis where consumers' pockets have been affected", Palushi said among other things.

Meanwhile, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo, Lulzim Rafuna, asking the government for support for local companies, he has invited the relevant institutions to conduct an analysis on the market to influence the reduction of product prices.

"It should be taken into account that we do not produce the raw material, we import it, and this price fluctuation during the pandemic, followed by the war in Ukraine-Russia, which caused a very high inflation, affected the increase in the price of the raw material, but also the increase in international transport costs. For this reason, the institutions must make an analysis and see where and how they can contribute in order to undertake a fiscal policy action, either to reduce any tax, in this case the VAT in raw material, where it is implementable or to see the other possibility of any subsidization of loan interest rates for producers, not only for exports but also for products that are produced for our market in order for that product to withstand the competition of the imported product, for for the reason that the product that comes from the region is subsidized in different forms from the country where it is produced", said Rafuna for kp.

Local products remain under the "shadow" of imported products. The consumption of "Made in Kosovo" products in the local market, despite the fact that it has increased in recent years, continues to remain low.

Mustafa from the Producers Club has invited the government to devote itself more to the economic development of the country.

"This remains in the hands of the government, where we invite you to have face-to-face meetings with the government and discuss all the problems, because now the situation with the Ohrid Agreement ends, and we have to move to the economic sphere and dedicate ourselves to it the country's economic development, mainly focusing on agriculture and production, as the only forces of the country's economic development", he said.

The products, which are imported from the countries of the region and beyond, continue to dominate the Kosovo market and are largely consumed by the citizens.

Meanwhile, our country continues to have a high trade deficit.