In the first half of 2021, Serbia exported the most corn (298.9 million euros), frozen raspberries (137.4 million), wheat (91.1 million), cigarettes (88.5 million and smoking tobacco 86.4 million), announced the Republic Bureau of Statistics. Imports are dominated by bananas (35.1 million euros), followed by various food products (55 million), unroasted coffee (22.1 million), cigarettes (19.7 million) and pork worth 18 million euros.
Agriculture and food industry of Serbia achieved a total foreign trade exchange worth almost 3.1 billion euros in six months of this year, which is an increase of 11.7 percent compared to the same period in 2020, the statement added.
Goods were exported for 1.98 billion euros, which is an increase of 13.6 percent compared to the results from 2020, with a share in the total export of goods of 19.6 percent. Imports were worth close to 1.12 billion euros, which is 8.4 percent more than in the first six months of 2020, with a share in total merchandise imports of 8.6 percent.
There was a surplus in the foreign trade of agricultural and food products for the six months of this year of 859.4 million euros, which is an increase of 21.1 percent compared to the middle of 2020. The coverage of imports by exports is 177 percent and is higher compared to the six months last year when it was 169 percent.
The most important foreign trade partners of Serbia in exports in the first half of this year are EU countries with a share in exports of 55.8 percent (1,102.9 million euros), followed by CEFTA countries with 22.7 percent (448.8 million euros) and the Russian Federation with 7.8 percent (153.6 million euros).
Value of imports and exports
Compared to the same period in 2020, the value of exports increased to EU countries by 27 percent, to the Russian Federation by 14.8 percent, and to CEFTA countries by 6.6 percent. The EU exported the most corn, wheat, white sugar, barley, water, raspberries, soybeans, etc., while the CEFTA exported the most corn, soft drinks, edible sunflower oil, cigarettes, wheat, flour.
The value of imports from EU countries during the first six months of this year was 748.8 million euros, which is 67.2 percent of total imports, followed by the CEFTA region with 96.3 million euros of imports and a share of 8.6 percent, and Russia with 45.1 million euros and a share of imports of four percent. Compared to the observed period in 2020, the value of imports from EU countries increased by 11.4 percent, while from the Russian Federation it decreased by 21.1 percent.
The most represented imports from the EU countries are food products, meat from domestic pigs, plain and carbonated water, preparations based on extracts, essences, as well as meat products. Tomatoes, raspberries, milk and sour cream, crucifers, oil cakes, meat from domestic pigs, and sunflower oil were mostly imported from CEFTA countries.
Pig breeders in Serbia have been complaining for some time that they do not benefit from higher prices in butchers. They claim that slaughterhouses started importing pork in Serbia when at one point this year, the price of pigs jumped to 1.5 euros plus VAT per kilogram, in order to bring it down. Domestic milk producers are in a much worse position, losing 10 cents per liter every day, BiF reports.
