This year, exports from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Russia have increased significantly, particularly for fruits and vegetables. The channel "Al Jazeera" visited one of the many fruit growing estates in the area of Gradiška, where producers have joined forces to gain ground in the Russian market.
Dragoja Dojčinović, a grower from Jablanica, near Gradiška, has been devoted to fruit production for 40 years. He owns 17 hectares of land with fruit crops, especially apples and pears. The market has always had a problem due to imports and low market prices, he said. Some of the fruits always remained unsold, until last year, when the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia.
"These sanctions benefited us significantly. We have managed to seize the opportunity and quickly redirect our shipments to the Russian market," said Dojčinović.
Fruit producers from this region founded a cooperative, and according to the Statistics Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this new export strategy has been a success. In the first six months of last year, the country exported fruits and vegetables to Russia worth 27,000 Euro. During the same period this year, the value of apple and pear shipments alone has amounted to more than 5 million Euro.
