Serbia Newsflash Week 20, 2022

Flour export unrestricted as of last week

Two months ago, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Serbian Government banned the export of flour, and in mid-April, it approved a quota for exports of 23 thousand tons per month. Last week, the Serbian government cancelled all restrictions.

The supply of flour and wheat on the domestic market is good and the free export of flour does not jeopardize the supply of the domestic market. Free export of flour will enable unloading of siloes before the harvest for the reception of new crop. It will also allow Serbian traders to preserve traditional markets, given that Serbia is a traditional exporter of flour to the markets of countries in the region.

Bearing in mind the sufficiently available quantities of flour and wheat, the Government stated that “the free export of flour will have multiple positive economic effects on the domestic market, lead to higher employment of domestic processing capacities and enable mills to accumulate financial resources necessary for the purchase of new crop”.

The Director of the Business Association of Millers, Zdravko Sajatovic, assessed that such a decision of the Government, which came into force on May 15, is good and stated that there is no need to introduce quotas for flour exports in the future because those exports have never endangered the supply of the domestic market. “We have enough flour, and it is a product that has higher added value, whose export should have priority over wheat,” said Sajatovic.

According to the Director, it is now up to Serbian sellers to regain old customers, primarily those from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, who had to find new suppliers due to the drop in Serbian exports. “The crisis on the global food market continues, so we believe that the demand for flour and wheat will continue to be high, which will enable us to compensate for part of the loss suffered during the export ban,” said Sajatovic.

The Director also stated that in the past two months, the price of flour on the global market has increased by €20-€30 per ton, from €420 to €440-€450. Sajatovic pointed out that Serbian flour would have to be sold somewhat cheaper, to begin with, in order for former buyers to return.

No price change for bread and flour in the next two months

Minister of Agriculture Branislav Nedimovic stated that the store shelves are loaded and that there is no fear in Serbia if there will be problems with flour, milk, and sunflower oil. The Minister stated for national television that the government had “intervened and helped the mill and bakery sector with cheaper wheat from commodity reserves and thus compensated for any losses they may have had”. Minister Nedimovic pointed out that he still thinks that it was a good decision to ban exports for 45 days. “The global cereal market is chaotic and we needed to balance our situation, to save Serbia, to have enough resources. Imagine a situation where Serbia exported all the wheat and flour it had in three days,” stated the Minister. “What would be left, what would we have”

Mr. Nedimovic pointed out that in the next 60 days, bread, flour type 400 and flour type 500 in packages of 1 kg and 5 kg will certainly not become more expensive, also noting that Serbia currently has a surplus of 170 thousand tons of flour. “If we consider that Serbia exports mostly 10 to 12 thousand tons of flour a month, that is 15 months of free export. Do not forget that we have a million tons of wheat in stock that can be easily ground in our mills,” said the Minister, pointing out that he expects over 3.4 million tons of wheat from the next harvest, which will be one of the better yields per hectare.

Local fisheries expensive and inefficient 

Serbian fisheries are in a very difficult situation, Aleksandar Stajcic, Director of DTD Fisheries and member of the Fisheries Group at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, stated for national broadcaster. “Our producers managed to satisfy 80% of the demand, but after the Lent and the Easter holidays, there will be more imports,” he pointed out.

Up to 50 thousand tons of fish are imported to Serbia annually, mostly sea fish, fresh and frozen from all over the world. However, there is a threat of increasing carp imports as well, as Stajcic mentioned due to high operating costs and quite expensive and inefficient production in relation to the neighboring countries. “If the fishing sector does not receive aid, I am afraid that we will maintain low-productivity carp production,” Stajcic warned.

The Director pointed out that fish farmers pay around €8.5 million per year to the state budget on various bases, and receive only around €340 thousand in subsidies, popinting out that the EU, on the other hand, allocates a lot for fish production. “The EU's strategy is to preserve water bodies and to keep fisheries alive in Central Europe through that strategy. We do not have a clearly defined strategy and that is why we have large amplitudes in production and prices,” said Stajcic. He pointed out that there is practically no export of domestic fish. As a paradox, he stated the statistical data that Norwegian salmon is exported the most, which is only processed in Serbia.

Western Balkans Green Navigator business association established

The reduction of the negative impact of climate change is one of the goals of the newly founded business association called the Western Balkans Green Navigator. The founders of the association are the Development Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the Guarantee Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Guarantee Fund of Republika Srpska. The founding meeting, was also attended by representatives of the Association of the Chambers of Commerce of North Macedonia, as reported by the portal of the Guarantee Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The aim of founding a regional business association is to take active part in reducing the negative impact of climate change and providing technical and financial support to the transformation of regional economy and orienting the public and private sectors toward climate economy.

Saffron plant discovered in Fruska Gora National Park

The saffron plant, from which the most expensive spice in the world is made, was discovered on Fruska Gora, the Fruska Gora National Park stated. “It is the woodland crocus (Crocus tommasinianus). Although they were found in only one place, the population numbers several thousand individuals and they are currently in the final phase of flowering,” states the website of the Fruska Gora National Park. Despite the mountain being botanically well researched, so far it has been considered that saffron does not grow on it, i.e. no one has found it until now. “About 20 species of saffron grow in Serbia. These are early spring plants that can mostly be found in higher mountains where they adorn mountain pastures and slopes, often in places where the snow has not yet melted. There are always a large number of them in places where they grow. The color of the flower is different for various species, they can be white, yellow, purple, or colorful. Of all the types of saffron, only three species are grown as ornamental plants, and saffron is best known in the world for the spice made from the anthers of one of them,” it is said in the statement of the Fruska Gora National Park. Saffron is known in the world as the most expensive spice. For only a kilogram of this spice, 200 thousand flowers are needed, and it is sold at a price of $1.500/kg.

Photo credit: Cover picture by Famartin | Wikimedia, shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The content is distributed under the same license.