The total foreign trade exchange of the agricultural and food industry in Serbia during 2020, which was marked by the corona virus pandemic, was over 5.6 billion euros, the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) announced. Exports increased by 10.7 percent compared to 2019, and Serbia’s most important foreign trade partners were members of the European Union.
According to the PKS, the domestic agricultural and food industry exported goods worth 3.63 billion euros in 2020, which is an increase of 12 percent compared to a year earlier and a share in the total merchandise exports of Serbia of 21.3 percent.
The import of goods was worth 2.02 billion euros, which is eight percent more than in 2019, and the share in the total import of goods is 8.8 percent.
The surplus in foreign trade of agricultural and food products in 2020 amounted to 1.61 billion euros, which is an increase of 32.5 percent compared to 2019.
The coverage of imports by exports is 179.6 percent and is higher than the coverage in 2019, when it amounted to 172.9 percent by slightly less than seven percent.
The most important products in exports during 2020 were, as added, corn, worth 543 million euros, frozen raspberries worth 259 million euros, smoking tobacco 186.3 million euros and cigarettes containing tobacco 185 million euros.
According to the structure of agricultural exports, the most represented are cereals with 23.9 percent, fruits and vegetables with 23.7 percent, then beverages with 16.7 percent, and tobacco products with 10.9 percent.
The most important products imported during 2020 were bananas worth 54.7 million euros, tobacco extracts and essences 52.5 million euros, domestic pig meat 48.7 million euros and unroasted coffee worth 48.6 million euros.
In the structure of agricultural imports, fruits and vegetables have the largest share with 23.6 percent, coffee and tea with 11.1 percent and tobacco with 10.7 percent.
The most important foreign trade partners of Serbia in exports during 2020 are the EU countries with a share in exports of 51.7 percent (1,883.8 million euros), followed by the countries of the CEFTA region with a share of 24.1 percent (876.4 million euros) and Russia Federation (RF) with 8.9 percent (322.4 million euros).
Compared to 2019, the value of exports to EU countries increased by 14.5 percent, while exports to Russia increased by 3.8 percent.
The value of Serbia’s imports from EU countries during 2020 was 1.32 billion euros, with a share in total imports of 65.8 percent.
In second place was imports from CEFTA countries worth 189.9 million euros and a share of 9.4 percent in total imports.
In third place is the import of goods from the Russian Federation in the value of 100.8 million euros and with a share in the total import of five percent.
Compared to 2019, the value of imports from EU countries increased by 8.6 percent, while from Russia it increased by 25.9 percent, Nova Ekonomija reports.
