Trade between Serbia and European Union countries in the first nine months of this year amounted to 59.5 percent, as reported by Demostat, based on data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (RZS).
The Serbian economy, as of October, managed to increase its export of goods by 7.2 percent in terms of dinars, but this still falls short in comparison to the inflation rate in Serbia. At the same time, imports decreased by 4.3 percent.
The largest export market for Serbian goods is Germany, which received goods worth 3.6 billion euros in the first ten months, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 1.67 billion, Italy with 1.5 billion, Hungary with 1.4 billion, and Romania with 1.27 billion euros.
On the other hand, in terms of imports, Germany also dominates by selling goods worth four billion euros in Serbia, followed by China with 3.7 billion, Italy with 2.2 billion, Turkey with 1.4 billion, and Russia with 1.39 billion euros.
Serbia has the largest trade surplus with Montenegro, primarily exporting electricity and pharmaceuticals, while importing electricity and dried meat from Montenegro.
Serbia also maintains a surplus in trade with some EU countries, exporting more to them than it imports, resulting in a trade surplus with Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, as well as with countries such as the United Kingdom, Moldova, and North Macedonia.
The trade deficit mainly exists in trade with China, primarily due to imports of phones and laptops, as well as with Turkey, Italy, Iraq, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Greece.
Data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia for the first nine months of this year indicate that the top 20 largest foreign trade partners account for a substantial 79.4 percent of Serbia’s total external trade. Within this, Serbia exported more than it imported to nine European countries, resulting in an overall surplus of 2.8 billion euros, with Montenegro alone accounting for a surplus of 825.2 million euros.
Serbia had a deficit of 5.8 billion euros with 11 countries, with China contributing nearly half of the total deficit at 2.5 billion euros, and Turkey, from which Serbia primarily imports metals and electrical equipment, contributing an additional 866 million euros to the deficit.
The changes in the export and import balance this year were primarily influenced by the recovery of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) from the 2021 accident, as well as the normalization of electricity prices in global markets. This led to a 89.3 percent increase in electricity exports and a 51 percent decrease in imports in the first nine months of this year.
Conversely, the agricultural sector experienced a decline in the export of agricultural products by 33.1 percent and an increase in imports by 12.9 percent.
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