In the first half of the year, placement on foreign markets increased by 14 percent compared to the record 2020.
Serbia will make about five billion dollars from the export of agricultural products this year, said the Minister of Agriculture, Branislav Nedimovic, at the conference “Agriculture in the first place” at the Novi Sad International Agricultural Fair. He said earlier that compared to the record 2020 In the middle of 2021, there was an increase of 14 percent in the placement of agricultural products on foreign markets. He also pointed out that food prices, according to the report of the World Food Organization, increased worldwide, as a result of Covid, by 14 percent. Speaking recently at the opening of the national dialogue on food systems, Nedimovic said that although we have surplus markets, the state also has a challenge to preserve that export.
– When we enter the structure of that surplus, then we have reason to fear, above all that at this moment it sounds good for field crops, such as wheat and corn, which have record prices. That is why the challenges are great, because we have to preserve exports and increase them constantly and we can easily reach six billion dollars of food exports, maybe next year – stated Nedimovic. That is why it is important that Serbia does not export only primary agricultural products, but semi-finished products that come from the food industry or finished products.
The corn brought the most money to our country individually from exports again. In June, these cereals were sold for 48.5 million dollars, according to the data of the last monthly bulletin published by the Republic Bureau of Statistics. The second place is taken by fresh fruits, which we exported for 33.6 million dollars, and the third place is occupied by raspberries worth 23.5 million dollars. The fourth place is occupied by refined oil, in exports worth 16.8 million dollars.
This is not surprising because oil, especially sunflower oil, has been an extremely sought-after and expensive product for almost a year now, due to the shortage of sunflower that affected large producers of that oilseed in Europe last year. In fifth place were frozen cherries, which we exported for 10.2 million dollars.
The lists of agricultural products that bring the most income to Serbia are mostly the same from year to year, and in certain seasons they only change the order. According to statistics, good earnings were also brought by beer, biscuits, and the export of sugar almost doubled in value compared to the same period in 2020. The income from the export of chocolate, mineral and carbonated water, wine, tobacco, etc., also increased.
In 2020, Serbia exported agricultural and food products for 4.14 billion dollars, which is a record growth of exports at a rate of 14.4 percent. The surplus in foreign trade of agricultural and food products in 2020 was higher by 20.5 percent, or 312.7 million dollars, than a year earlier and amounted to 1.84 billion dollars, with a rate of coverage of imports by exports of 180 percent, Politika reports.
