Serbia Newsflash Week 34, 2022

Unsatisfied Serbian farmers continue their protests

Dissatisfied with the offered purchase price of sunflowers, farmers from the Association of Initiatives for the Survival of Serbian Farmers and other farmers’ associations organized protests throughout Serbia in the second half of August.

Farmers’ demands include a sunflower price of €700 per ton, a moratorium and freezing of loans for farmers, fuel for autumn field activities to be €1.45 per liter at all gas stations and the abolition of the excise duty on 100 liters of fuel per hectare. Farmers also demanded a milk premium of €0.12 per liter and 30 percent subsidies for fertilizer. They requested that a natural disaster should be declared due to drought. Farmers had several meetings with the Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, representatives of Min of Finance and Chamber of Commerce but the agreement has not been reached. Farmers announced continuation of protests.

The Minister of Agriculture announced that the Serbian Hydrometeorological Service would compose a report on drought which would be used to decide whether to declare a natural disaster. The Serbian Government fulfilled one of the demands, allowing the free export of all primary agricultural products. It was agreed that the milk premium for producers would be €0.12/liter in the second quarter of this year and it was said that the farmers who took part in the protests with tractors would not be fined for blocking the traffic.

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, said that the state is doing everything to solve the problems of farmers. Ms. Brnabic also said that the Government cannot guarantee the price of sunflowers, but the trade margin can be discussed, to be a maximum of 10 percent. The Government cannot guarantee any price, not just the €700 the farmers are asking for. “If we were to guarantee the price for the purchase of sunflowers, we would have to guarantee everyone the purchase of anything,” the Prime Minister explained.

Cooking oil producers fear they won’t be able to bring back foreign buyers

The Government of Serbia has adopted the decision on the lifting of the ban on the export of all kinds of oil, raw and refined, after gaining a full insight into the stock, but also due to the fact that the size of farmland used to cultivate sunflower crops has reached a record size. The institutions in charge will continue following the situation in the market and take adequate measures in line with that. The priority will be to meet all the needs of the populace.

Suncica Savovic, the Director of the Serbia Grains Association, points out that, due to the previous decisions of the government regarding the export, Serbia had incurred great losses of international purchasers. “The question now is whether we will be able to bring those purchasers back and to what extent. The decision on the lifting of the ban on the export of all types of oil is certainly good, because it will allow traders, exporters and producers to again freely make deals and have predictability in doing business, as it is usually done, because this kind of a market commodity is traded in advance. For example, oil is now sold for October,” Savovic points out and adds that the state could have regulated it all earlier and in a much better way, with a better system of quotas. “We hope that such bans will not happen again. Serbia has never depended on any world producer of oil, we have always produced in excess of the local needs.”

Serbian apples a serious competitor on global market

People are consuming fewer and fewer apples, warns the PROGNOSFRUIT World Conference of Apple and Pear Producers, held in Belgrade in August 3 and 4. Over 200 participants from 23 countries took part in the conference. Serbia was the third country-organizer outside the European Union.

In the EU, around twelve million tons of apples and two million tons of pears are produced annually. The forecast is that production in the EU will increase, whereas in other countries, China and the United States, it will decrease slightly. The bigger problem, according to PROGNOSFRUIT, is that apples are consumed less. Experts underlined that the quality of the crop should also be improved, because Europe has been affected by several droughts, and they added that technology can help in this respect. With an annual production of 550 thousand tons of apples and pears, Serbia is a serious competitor. “Quantitatively, Serbia exports over 190 thousand tons of apple and pear products annually. Based on this, Serbia will achieve a foreign exchange inflow from exports of over USD 135 million,” stated the State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Senad Mahmutovic.

Danube water level at a minimum, bottom being dug for coal transport

The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Tomislav Momirovic, said that the level of the Danube has reached a historical minimum and that intervention dredging works are being carried out at three locations in Serbia in order to ensure the navigability of the Danube and the Sava. Milan Nikolic, the Head of the port authorities' affairs department, said that the dredger Mlava is carrying out hydrotechnical works to ensure even more favorable conditions for navigation, in terms of digging and creating greater depths for all types of ships. "I expect that we will finish the works on the Cortanovci section in the next month, near Futog and on the Sava near Baric by the end of August”, said the minister.  

Mr. Momirovic explained that Serbia only intervenes in those locations when it comes to the Sava and Danube and that the other parts of those rivers are navigable, even though the water level is low. "Practically, from Bulgaria to Germany, there are problems everywhere due to the low water level, and we were forced to react quickly and ensure the so-called minimum navigability of the river roads in Serbia," said the minister, further explaining that the goal of those works is to ensure the prescribed depth of the waterway, in order to enable the supply of coal from the rivers, stressing that for this it is necessary that the waterway be regulated in Bulgaria as well, but that he expects that this will happen soon.

After a Friday meeting with Bulgarian Deputy PM and Minister of Transport Hristo Alexiev,  Minister Momirovic said that the Serbian government had offered excavators for works on the Bulgarian stretch of the Danube.

Five food operators permitted to export to Saudi Arabia

Five food producers have received the permit to export to Saudi Arabia, namely two meat and three dairy companies. The Ambassador of Serbia to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Muhamed Jusufspahic, said that in September, the export of meat to the largest country in the Middle East, will begin from the slaughterhouse in Sid, which was the first to meet all the requirements.

“Cooperation between the two countries has been established at all levels. At the moment, the most relevant is the Agreement on the export of Meat, Milk, and Dairy Products, which was preceded by a successful commission inspection of a slaughterhouse, the one in Sid. The most difficult part of the work has been done, which is the control and recognition of Serbian certificates by the importing country. This has been intensively worked on for the past six months, people from Saudi Arabia were in Serbia on a control visit and after seeing five facilities of their choice, they were assured of the quality of production here,” stated thr Ministry of Agriculture. Serbian

The Ambassador to Saudi Arabia emphasized that a quick start of the export of meat from small ruminants, primarily sheep, is expected. “This market is interesting for Serbia because it has 35 million inhabitants, and is highly-paying market,” the Ambassador emphasized and added that, on the Saudi side, the state institution Salik (SALIC) is responsible for the implementation of the agreement and the procurement of food.

Ambassador Jusufspahic emphasized that the Agreement would contribute to the increase of livestock in Serbia and the improvement of the situation in the meat industry. He added that the export of alfalfa is Serbia's second chance because Saudi Arabia imports it in huge quantities

Serbia insect import/export figures

Serbia imported large quantities of insects, sea snails, human hair, and pig and wild boar bristles, reports daily Vecernje Novosti . At the same time, the country is also an exporter of such goods. In the first six months of this year, live reptiles worth €308.000, including snakes and turtles, were exported to Great Britain, writes the news portal.

In the same period, about 19 tons of insects, worth about €34 thousand were imported. Most of them, like bumble bees, were brought to pollinate fruits and vegetables. Beneficial predators, insects that destroy pests, are also used in plant protection in Serbia. In the first half of the year, Serbia imported both live and chilled sea snails, worth almost €2 million. They arrived from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. A total of 249 tons of much cheaper land snails arrived from neighboring countries worth €313.000. Serbia, however, exported as many as 574 tons in the same period. “It was a dry year, so we had to import snails,” says one of the largest snail processing factories. They say that all quantities are usually sent abroad. “Only a couple of restaurants in Belgrade and Novi Sad ordered a few kilograms each. There is no snail-eating culture in Serbia,” said the processing plant.

Bees worth €45.000 were exported to Jordan. A total of 491 tons of intestines, bladders, and stomachs from animals were also exported. At the same time, these entrails were also imported - 207 tons, the daily reports.

Mineral fertilizers 177% more expensive than a year ago

The prices of reproductive materials, goods, and services in agriculture in Serbia in the second quarter of this year are 34.3% higher than in previous year, and mineral fertilizer has risen in price by 177%, the Statistical Office of Serbia reported. Seeds are more expensive by 31.9%, pesticides by 26.2%, and animal feed by 22%. In comparison with the first quarter of this year, the prices of reproductive materials, goods, and services in agriculture increased by 9.7% on average. Mineral fertilizers are 33.5% more expensive, and price of seeds is higher by 13.3%.