In 2023, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) exported eight times more brown coal to Serbia than two years ago. As much as 90% of the electricity exports from Republika Srpska (RS) go to Serbia, as well as the entire amount of crude oil that is extracted "experimentally", the "Sarajevo Times" reported.
According to data from the Indirect Taxation Administration of BiH, exports of coal, electricity and even oil to Serbia, which grew in 2022 as a result of the energy crisis, continue with even greater intensity in 2023.
Thus, for the past year, the export of coal has already surpassed the export for the whole of 2022 by 13 million barrels and continues to grow.
In 2023, lignite worth more than EUR 77,697,520 left Bosnia and Herzegovina for Serbia, and in 2022, lignite worth EUR 70,960,848 was exported to this country.
For comparison, in 2021 BiH exported "only" 18.6 million barrels of coal to Serbia, and the previous year's exports "hovered" around the same number.
Serbia's coal demand exploded in 2022 when Aleksandar Vucic pointed out through the media that his country's needs were huge, that they were 4 million tons short and that they would buy any surplus wherever they could find it.
Coal exports to Serbia then devastated the mines in BiH to such an extent that citizens had to wait until the end of October for firewood for their households, whether high-calorie brown coal for central heating or stone for ordinary stoves, and paid twice as much for them, i.e. above 220 barrels, in contrast to previous years when they cost up to 125 barrels.
Coal is also exported to other countries, such as France, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia, Albania and Germany, but the quantities sold there are insignificant compared to those going to Serbia./BGNES
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