Macedonia says it will reconsider lifting the ban on imported flour from Kosovo after Kosovo slapped an unexpected embargo on food products imported from Macedonia.

Macedonian government spokesperson Muhamed Hoxha on Friday said the lifting of the ban will be raised at the next government session.

“We will first have to see whether all conditions are met. We are contacting the millers to assess the situation and will afterwards decide whether and when to lift the protective measure,” Hoxha said.

Taking Macedonia by surprise, on Thursday at midnight Kosovo launched a trade embargo on all Macedonian food products.

“The decision was taken as a response to the blockade that Macedonia introduced on July 1 on wheat and flour from Kosovo”, Arta Istrefi, a Kosovo spokesperson, told Balkan Insight.

Cereals, flour, starch, dairy products, vegetables, fruit, beverages, spirits, vinegar and tobacco from Macedonia are now banned from entering Kosovo.

Istrefi explains that while Macedonia at the start of September met a promise to lift the blockade on imported wheat, the ban on flour remains in place and “is in clear violation of CEFTA” – the Central European Free Trade Agreement.

On July 1, Macedonia said that for every kilo of imported wheat, Macedonian importers would have to buy three kilos of local wheat, while for every kilo of imported flour, they would have to buy four kilos of local flour.

This protective measure angered neighbouring Serbia, which is a major exporter of these products to Macedonia. However, Kosovo has remained silent ever since.

Serbia also accused Macedonia of breaching the CEFTA agreement. In mid-August media reported that Serbia boosted inspections of Macedonian agricultural products and other foodstuffs at all border crossings as a result.

Neighboring Kosovo is one of Macedonia’s main trading partners and one of the few countries to which Macedonia exports considerately more than it imports. Trade between the two countries in the first seven months of this year was worth some €135 million. Balkaninsight