2024, Kosovo gains ground in trade with Albania

The other side of the nation, Kosovo, has expanded its trade advantage in Albania over the past year by increasing exports and reducing imports from our country.

Data from INSTAT on foreign trade show that in 2024, Albanian exports to Kosovo decreased by 9.8%, while imports from Kosovo to Albania increased by 33.5% in 2024 compared to 2023.

Albanian goods exported to Kosovo amounted to 36.8 billion lek in 2024, a decrease of 9.8%. While imports from Kosovo in the same year amounted to 15.7 billion lek, an increase of 33.55% compared to 2023.

However, Albania is in a trade surplus with Kosovo, but its value decreased last year. The trade surplus with Kosovo amounted to 21.1 billion lek in 2024, down from 29 billion lek in 2023, a decrease of 27%.

Despite Kosovo's trade with Albania improving in Kosovo's favor last year, Kosovo's trade deficit further widened by 17.5%. Kosovo's exports cover only 11% of imports.

The increase in imports from Kosovo was dominated by the goods of the Devolli company in Albania with "Peja" beer, "Vita" products, and home furnishings through "Comodita Home".

Of our exports to Kosovo, iron experienced the largest contraction, with about 25% due to the decline in production at the Kurum company in Albania. Vegetable exports marked a decrease in value by about 22%, as a result of falling prices and the fall of the euro, which has put Albania's exports in difficulty this year.

Trade with Kosovo has multiplied in the last decade. In 2023, trade volume increased 5-fold compared to 2008, when independence was declared. Trade between Albania and Kosovo began after the end of the war in 2000.

In about two decades of trade, it is seen that the biggest beneficiary is Albania, which exports more goods to Kosovo than it imports. In 2023, the value of goods that Albania exported to Kosovo was twice as high as the value of goods it imported.

Albanian exports to Kosovo are mainly dominated by construction materials, leather and leather products, and food, while imports from Kosovo are mainly represented by construction materials, which account for almost 50% of imports, food, and chemical and plastic products.

Kosovo and Albania, two states of the same nation, have not exploited the potential of natural resources and young populations to increase economic benefits.

Our economies are based on a model that does not generate high-value employment and have not been able to integrate into industry chains like Serbia and North Macedonia./ Monitor.al