Until a few years ago, the biggest landowners in Serbia were Petar Matijević, Miodrag Kostić and Miroslav Mišković, but now the constellation of forces on Serbian arable land is different. Matijević is still undisputed in terms of the number of hectares he cultivates, however, the positions below him have been mixed.
Businessman from Novi Sad, Matijević, owner of the meat industry of the same name and a group that has more than 70 companies, according to Agrosmart’s information, has reached 33,000 hectares of agricultural land, of which he owns 28,000 hectares, according to Agrosmart.
Behind him, if you look at the total cultivated areas, is his longtime competitor Miodrag Kostić. The second place was taken by Miroslav Aleksa, the founder and owner of the company Almeks from Pancevo.
According to Agrosmart, Aleksa cultivates about 20,000 hectares, half of which he leases and half of which he owns. On the website of Almex, there is information that he owns seven estates in Vojvodina with eight farms and cultivates 17,000 hectares, however, in the world of agribusiness it is known that Aleksa has exceeded those areas.
The next company In terms of the number of hectares it cultivates is Al Dahra, which in 2018 bought the assets of the Belgrade Agricultural Corporation (PKB) and in that package also close to 17,000 hectares of arable land. As Agrosmart reminds, in the financial report of this company it was written that only by purchasing the Al Dahra field, it acquired assets worth more than EUR 170 million. Some of the objections of agro-economic experts to the sale of PKB and the entire procedure were precisely that valuable arable land was sold at twice the lower price.
Al Dahra in third place
Anyway, Al Dahra, which is based in Abu Dhabi, is in second place after the Matijević company in terms of the number of hectares it owns, and in terms of cultivated hectares, it is in third place. Al Dahra, in addition to PKB’s fields, also owns an orchard on Fruška Gora, in the municipality of Irig. Her company is Rudnap, which, according to data from this company’s website, has planted fruit on 130 hectares, and according to brochures issued by Al Dahra, the plan was to expand to 500 hectares.
Only in fourth place is the recently “top” landowner Miodrag Kostić and his MK group. Kostić has sold several properties in the last couple of years. Let them go into the hands of Matijević. From the former around 25,000 hectares, of which he owned around 17,000, it fell to “only” 15,000 hectares. Of those 15,000 hectares, the owner owns about 12,000 hectares. He was left without property in Vršac, Vajska, Kikinda, Inđija.
Behind Kostić is the owner of Delta, Miroslav Mišković, who cultivates about 13,000 hectares in total, of which he manages about 10,000.
Krsta Ćorić, the owner of Ćorić agrar from Bašaid, is now almost by Mišković’s shoulder. According to Agrosmart, he plows about 12,000 hectares, of which half he leases and half he owns. This company initially engaged in the sale of agricultural machinery, but for years it has been developing livestock production, owning modern cattle farms.
What else is on the list?
Behind Krsto Ćorić, according to what can be seen from publicly available documents, is the Arab company Elit Agro. First, in 2014, this company based in Abu Dhabi, through its company Jugo elit agro, founded in Belgrade, bought the agricultural and tourist complex Zobnatica in Bačka Topola. At that time, Zobnatica owned 114 hectares, and 1,507 hectares were under long-term lease. Two years ago, Elit agro also bought the company Al Ravafed (Military institution Morović, Bačka from Sivac, Jadran from Nova Gajdobra) thus acquiring about 10,500 hectares, of which they own about 2,500 hectares.
A businessman from Novi Sad owns the most land in Croatia as well
In 2015, Petar Matijević bought two agricultural cooperatives in Croatia, in Stari Jankovci and Negoslavci. Then he came into possession of about 1,500 hectares in the Vukovar-Srem County and became the largest owner of arable land in that country.
According to Agrosmart’s knowledge, in the past few years, it has bought another 600 hectares from private individuals. So in Croatia, he now has over 2,000 hectares of arable land in his hands. He recently bought 150 hectares of agricultural land in the vicinity of Osijek from owners of Croatian origin who live in Argentina. Namely, he bought very high-quality plots of land located around the airport in the settlement of Klisa.
Field prices are stagnant
According to the data of the Republic Geodetic Institute, the most expensive arable land is in the Južnobački District, where it cost up to EUR 31,000 per hectare. In Srem, in the last quarter of last year, they ranged from EUR 1,150 to EUR 30,700, in the South Banat District from EUR 400 to EUR 20,050.
However, those highest prices are extreme cases. For the most part, agricultural land is stable, prices have not gone up significantly in the last few years and do not follow the trend of real estate (apartments and cottages), which are skyrocketing in price.
The highest quality Bačka and Srem land goes up to 20,000 EUR per hectare, but it is most often sold from 10,000 to 15,000 EUR. Farmers say that they have no idea that they are paying dearly for their fields, considering the low prices of their products (except for last year).
Sign up for business updates & specials.
