Kosovo’s exports, especially in the years after the outbreak of the pandemic, have experienced a sharp increase compared to previous years, reaching a maximum of 920.4 million euros in 2022.
This is stated in a report of the Ministry of Trade entitled “Identification of products with export potential and import substitution”, in which it is emphasized that production exports, in particular, have witnessed a more significant increase compared to other export categories. While in 2017, manufacturing exports accounted for 66.4% of total exports, in 2020 and 2021 they accounted for an average of 83% of total exports.
It is emphasized that Kosovo’s production exports are mainly concentrated in a certain group of countries. During the period 2017-2021, 10 countries accounted for 80% of all manufacturing exports.
Most of Kosovo’s export partners are members of CEFTA or the EU, both of which have preferential trade agreements with Kosovo. The dominant export partner throughout this period is Albania, which accounts for 16.8% of Kosovo’s production exports, followed by North Macedonia (9.4%) and Switzerland (9%). An emerging and important trading partner is the United States, which became the top export partner in 2021, mainly due to mattress exports. Current strategic exports consist of products that are of great importance in the country’s current trade performance. Their choice is made taking into account the aspects of supply and demand.
“According to the RCA average value, (940429) mattresses; (392111) plates, metal sheets of cellular polymers; and (392520) their plastic doors, windows and frames were among the top-ranked products. Moreover, these products have experienced the most significant growth in 2022 compared to 2018. In this group, the products with the largest increase in world demand, measured by world imports, are (940161) upholstered seats; (730890) iron or steel structures and parts of structures; and (940360) wooden furniture. As mentioned earlier, a product does not meet the export stability criteria. However, it has entered the top 15 due to its rapid growth at RCA over the past four years and its qualification as a high value product. Products that have shown uninterrupted RCA growth from 2018 to 2022 include (940429) mattresses; (392111) plates, metal sheets of cellular polymers; (620449) women’s or girls’ dresses of textile materials; and (700,800) isolation units with multiple glass walls”, the ministry’s report says, based on the data of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics.
The table presents the 15 main strategic exports, ranked by the average value of the RCA for the period 2018-2022.
