Serbia Newsflash, Week 23, 2022

The EU common market is the most important market for Serbian products

At the Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad, the Ambassador of the European Union to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, talked with the Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Branislav Nedimovic, and the Minister of European Integration, Jadranka Joksimovic, about the IPARD 2 project and plans for IPARD3.

Serbia will receive the highest funding for agriculture from the European Union funds in the West Balkans country group. For IPARD 3, €288 million has been allocated by the European Union, with the foreseen participation of Serbian producers estimated at €600 million by 2027.

"Based on everything we agreed upon in Brussels, things are going well,” commented Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic. “All parties in this process, including the Ministry of European Integration, the European Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, are doing their best to help as many Serbian producers gain access to IPARD funds as possible. So far, this has been done by 581 agricultural producers. I hope that this year we will reach one thousand," the minister added.

The EU Ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret pointed out that 55% of Serbia’s agricultural exports go to the European Union. The total agricultural exchange is €2.3 billion, where Serbia has a surplus of €700 million. The trade surplus also reached a record last year.

The countries of the European Union are the largest and most important market for Serbian products, making up to 60% of the total export. Countries from the CEFTA region come second with up to 20%.

"We continue to cooperate through the IPARD program. We want to further improve our relations and we have allocated significant funds for IPARD 3. Now we need to focus on completing IPARD 2 and speeding up payments. I am proud of our good relationship with Minister Nedimovic and the Serbian farmers," said Giaufret. Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic pointed out that Serbia has used €175 million from the IPARD program since 2015.

Open Balkan summit with Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina as observers

The Open Balkan summit took place in Ohrid, North Macedona this week. In addition to the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, representatives of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated at the summit as guests. Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija expressed their personal support for the initiative, of which their countries are still not part.

The participants of the summit concluded that cooperation in the West Balkans must be enhanced. “A  time is coming in the future when one grain of wheat will be worth the same as a whole bag of wheat is worth today and when the value of one Kilowatt-hour of electricity will be the same as what one Megawatt-hour is worth today, and cooperation as part of the Open Balkan initiative must be boosted because of this”, Albanian PM Edi Rama said in Ohrid.

"The Open Balkan is for all citizens and it will increasingly belong to everyone," he told a joint press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonian PM Dimitar Kovacevski, adding that the three countries will set up a joint crisis group to find solutions as the global crisis escalates further. The group will start working immediately and a meeting will be held as early as July to review proposals by the group, Rama said.

The Prime Minister of Albania also announced the countries will hold their first joint food, wine and tourism fair in Belgrade in September. Rama added that a conference on food security will be held as well and that the initiative's next summit in Albania will focus on energy security of its member states.

At the same occasion, the Serbian Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Branislav Nedimovic stated that from January 1 to the end of May, because of the Open Balkans initiative, the number of trucks traveling between Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia increased by 13%.

Mr. Nedimovic stated that in the last five months since the implementation of the Open Balkans initiative began, 6.400 trucks from Serbia had gone to North Macedonia and Albania or arrived in Serbia from those countries. “This shows that the Open Balkans initiative is already yielding results,” the Minister said. Mr. Nedimovic added that out of those five months, the export of certain food products from Serbia were not allowed for two months, and he assessed that the results would have been better had it not been for this circumstance.

Pig farms in Serbia in very difficult situation and are closing  

The co-owner of the meat processing company Matijevic, Bojan Matijevic, assessed for the Beta news agency that domestic pork production as mostly been “destroyed” by the import of finished goods through retail chains.

According to Mr. Matijevic, the decline of domestic production will affect the growth of retail prices, even though the consumption of meat per capita has dropped by about 20% in the last year or two. [SZ1] 

“Meat, pork, chicken, and beef have risen in price by 30% in the last year, despite decreased consumption. Consumers have started buying less since their purchasing power has decreased because salaries have not been increased by 30%,” Matijevic said. The President of the Association of Agricultural Producers of Serbia (SPAS), Zoran Milicevic, said that pig farms are closing more often because of problems.

Due to the huge import of meat, the purchase price of fatteners in Serbia has gone from €1.6 to €1.7, and in 2012, it was €2.04. A kilogram of concentrate for food cost €0.17 back then, and now it is more than €0.34.

“Food is no longer worth the production and large farms are being closed,” Milicevic said. The owner of the fattening farm in Lacark near Sremska Mitrovica, Bora Suljmanac, said that it has never been worse in that branch of agriculture and that there is no or minimal revenue, even though the prices of meat in retail are rising.

Mr. Suljmanac estimated that about 40% of meat is imported for domestic needs and that even large meat industries do it, which are no longer slaughtering a single pig in their plants, as before. Domestic production, as he said, satisfies only 60% of consumption.

Turnover on green markets in Serbia higher by 8.1%

The value of the turnover of agricultural products on the green markets in Serbia in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year, is higher by 8.1%, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (RZS) published.

In the first quarter, according to RZS, the total turnover was €78.4 million. Vegetables (26.4%), fruits (18.4%), poultry and eggs (16.9%), and milk and dairy products (14.5%) were integral parts of the turnover.

All regions in the country recorded an increase in turnover in the first three months, and the largest was in Belgrade's green markets, where it reached about €36.6 million. Observed by groups of products, €20.4 million was spent on vegetables and €13.6 million on fruits.

The highest growth in turnover was recorded by honey, as much as 24.7%, then comes grain and related products with 19%, followed by fruit products with 18%. A slight decline in turnover in the first three months compared to the same period last year was recorded in fresh fruit, milk, and fish, while the largest decline was in timber (23.6%).

Observed by products, the biggest increase was in the turnover of wheat flour, as much as 24%. From January to the end of March, 167 tons of this type of flour were sold on the green markets. The total turnover of agricultural products on green markets in Serbia last year was more than €344 million.

Serbian wines did well at DECANTER 2022

The wines of six wineries from Serbia won gold medals at this year's international event Decanter World Wine Awards  (DWWA), the largest and most influential wine competition in the world.

About 18,500 wines from 56 countries were evaluated in London from April 24 to May 7, which is more than ever before. They were evaluated by 300 international wine experts, and the official results were published on the website of this competition on Tuesday, June 7.

Aleksic Winery won three medals for wines Amanet Vranac, Zuti Cvet – Penusa-vo Tamnjanika Sec, and Biser Smederevka extra brut.

Doja Winery received these awards for wines Prokupac, which won over 95 points, and Breg Prokupac. The Decanter gold medals were also won by Reljic Winery  for Rebus Merlot, Aleksandrovic Winery for Regent Reserve, Matijasevic Winery for SoviNoa Fume Blanc wine, and Veritas for Momentum Cabernet Sauvignon.

Among the winners of the silver medals are 30 wines from 14 wineries in Serbia, while 46 wines earned bronze medals. As it is stated, the 50 most prestigious Best in Show awards were given, 165 platinum, 676 gold, 5,900 silver, and 8,074 bronze medals.