Macedonian millers are facing a blockade on the Kosovo side of the border, and say they have not been able to export for 25 days because Kosovo returns their trucks with flour on the pretext that the level of iron and folic acid in it is below the prescribed rulebook, and to resolve they do not have any help from the competent state institutions on the problem.
According to the President of the Milling and Bakery Industry Group at the Economic Chamber of Macedonia Goran Malishikj, the Ministry of Economy and the Food and Veterinary Agency (FVA) were immediately notified about this problem. The millers even requested an urgent meeting with the authorities, but so far have not received any response.
“We have been exporting flour to Kosovo for 15 years and more according to their criteria without any problems. As exporters, we make analyzes of the flour in our accredited laboratories, to check if we meet the conditions, as well as for official reasons for export, i.e. to obtain a certificate of origin and quality for the export of flour. In the last 25 days, Kosovo returns our trucks under the pretext that the level of iron and folic acid is below the prescribed rulebook, although both before delivery and after return our flour was tested in our laboratories and found to contain more than the minimum amount of iron and folic acid,” Malishikj said.
The milling industry appeals to the Government, the responsible ministries and state agencies to immediately solve the export problem, as well as the non-competitive and uncontrolled import of flour with the surrounding CEFTA signatory countries and with the neighbors that are members of the EU.
