Food prices in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been constantly rising for several years writing a Business register in BiH . The question arises as to why and whether there are economic or any other grounds for the enormous increase in prices in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There are many reasons. Some believe that the war in Ukraine is to blame for the enormous increase in prices in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some blame the greed of individuals or the fact that the owners of retail chains unjustifiably raise the prices of food and other products under the guise of inflation.

Recently, data on the profit rate of retail chains in Bosnia and Herzegovina compared to the profit rate of retail chains in neighboring countries have been published, which can contribute to this discussion.

It is also important to note that the government's attempts to influence the price increase have failed, given that traders believe that they have no room to reduce prices. Portal srpskainfo investigated the profit rate of Bosnia and Herzegovina retail chains compared to retail chains in the surrounding area.

The mentioned analysis says that Bingo is the retail chain with the highest profit rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2022 Bingo had a profit rate of 7.3%. Thus, Bingo had a profit of 117,125,912 KM, and the income itself amounted to 1,603,360,887 KM.

The Robot retail chain is next on the list with a profit rate of 4.82%, while the Merkator retail chain is in third place with a profit rate of 1.36%.

When it comes to Serbia, the Delez retail chain had a profit rate of 4.9%, as the chain with the highest profit rate in Serbia, while the Lidl retail chain had a profit rate of 2.17%. Mercator retail chain had the lowest profit rate. Namely, the profit rate of Mercator was 0.76%.

When it comes to Croatia, the retail chain Lidl had the highest profit rate. Lidl's profit rate in Croatia was 4.95%. Konzum is next on the list with a profit rate of 1.32%, while in third place is the shopping chain Špar with a profit rate of 0.44%.

The ratio when it comes to the profit rate of retail chains in Montenegro is similar to that in Serbia and Croatia. Namely, the profit rate of the VOLI Trade chain is 3.71%. In second place is Diskont Laković with a profit rate of 2.84%.

From the above data, we can see that the profit rates of retail chains in Bosnia and Herzegovina are in some cases up to twice as high. The question arises whether there is a valid reason for such a thing.

All the above data are from 2022. Data for 2023 is not yet available.