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Cheese production has tremendous potential in Serbia
maximum amount of up to EUR 1 million for energy efficiency projects and up to EUR 3 million for renewable energy projects.
12) Trial agricultural census conducted
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June 4th, 2020, http://www.stips.minpolj.gov.rs/srl/vest/probni-popis-poljoprivrede-od-12-do-19-juna
As part of the preparations for the upcoming Census of Agriculture 2021, the state statistics office conducted a trial census between June 12 and June 19. The goal of the pilot was to test the overall methodology of the census as well as that of a specially-designed app for entering and sending data to a centralized location for processing.
The implementation of the Census of Agriculture 2021 is necessary to ensure continuity in the production of structural data in the field of agriculture. It is also in line with the World Agricultural Census 2020 Program of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which recommends that all countries conduct the census between 2016 and 2025 in accordance with specific guidelines.
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13) Unused resources could be tapped for mushroom production
June 18th, 2020, https://beta.rs/ekonomija/ekonomija-srbija/
The Minister of Regional Development announced that investing in mushroom production in Serbia could be a profitable business opportunity, especially as the country has unused resources that could be utilized in this direction. The Minister also noted that world markets, especially European ones, give the sector excellent export opportunities, especially if products are dehydrated for an extended shelf life.
Exports of mushrooms in recent years have been relatively strong and vastly outpace imports by nearly 75 times; however, most of the exports are collected from nature. It is important to note that some experts are more cautious than the Minister, citing that past success from mushrooms collected from nature does not necessarily predict performance from farms. At the same time, other experts believe that mushroom farming in Serbia could amount to profits of more than EUR 40 per square meter.
Those interested in investing in mushroom production are encouraged to form cooperatives and seek support under the state-run 500 Cooperatives in 500 Villages program, which has funds available for such projects as well as technical assistance available on forming/joining cooperatives and starting a successful mushroom production center.
14) Only one in five tractors are “new” in Serbia
June 11th, 2020, http://www.stips.minpolj.gov.rs/srl/vest/u-srbiji-tek-svaki-peti-traktor-nov
There are currently approximately 400,000 tractors operating in Serbia, but only about one in five of those can be considered as new. Most of the newer tractors were purchased under the Ministry of Agriculture’s subsidy program and/or utilizing IPARD pre-accession funds. On average, most agricultural machinery currently in use in Serbia is more than 30 years old, a problem that has been prolonged due to state decisions (e.g. changes to the Law on Road Traffic Safety) that allow older machinery to remain legally operational. Experts claim that, without these changes, more than 60% of agricultural machinery would not pass technical inspections.
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30% of raspberry crops destroyed by storms
June 11th, 2020, http://rs.n1info.com/Biznis/a608920/Malinari-Nevreme-unistilo-30-odsto-ovogodisnjeg-roda.html
The president of the Association of Raspberry Producers of Serbia has announced that recent storms, which brought with them hail, high winds and heavy rainfall, have destroyed 30% of the raspberry harvest. This is an important development for raspberry producers, who finally saw prices increase to RSD 250 per kilogram from RSD 65-170 last year.
In general, raspberries are expected to be in much shorter supply this year in markets around the world as storms and diseases have halved production in the world’s largest raspberry-producing countries, Chile and Poland. Moreover, Serbian raspberry producers are struggling to attract an adequate labor force for harvesting activities.
16) Area sown with sugar beets up 25%
June 5th, 2020, https://beta.rs/ekonomija/ekonomija-srbija/128374
Between 36,000 and 37,000 hectares were sown with sugar beet in March and April of this year, 25% more than last year. The majority of that (28,000 hectares) has already been contracted to be sold to Sunoko, which also organized Sugar Beet Field Days around the country to facilitate experience exchanges and knowledge sharing with sugar beet producers. At the events, Sunoko representatives conveyed the company’s support for sugar beet production and a collaborative working environment to overcome the challenges and specific circumstances sugar beet producers face.
Based on the sown area, experts are predicting that enough sugar can be produced this year to meet domestic demand and have reserves.
June 3rd, 2020, http://rs.n1info.com/Biznis/a606251/Strucnjaci-ocekuju-650-miliona-dolara-priliva-od-izvoza-srpskog-voca.html
Experts are predicting that Serbia could realize a foreign exchange inflow of approximately USD 650 million from fruit exports this year, despite the fact that the overall yield is projected to be down by 5%. In total, fruit exports this year are expected to be between 1.2 million and 1.3 million tons. Moreover, demand for fruit coupled with a reduced supply will help drive prices to potentially ten-year highs.
At the same time, it should be noted that fruit exports could be even higher if measures were taken to improve raspberry production, which generates the largest foreign exchange inflows for the country after wheat. Specifically, a 2006 virus hit raspberry plantations hard and resulted in the destruction of many raspberry plants, with little done to replace them.
June 2nd, 2020, http://www.rtv.rs/sr_ci/drustvo/nove-tehnologije-u-poljopivredi-zaprasivanje-pomocu-drona_1130901.html
On property belonging to the Agricultural School of Obrenovac, drones were used to complete crop dusting activities for the first time in Serbia. Following the coming harvest, the results of this type of treatment will be compared in terms of both quantity and quality against crops that received traditional, manual dusting.
The president of the Association for Unmanned Systems in the Economy explained that similar dronebased solutions can also be used for the early detection of crop health changes, including the
appearance of diseases, as well as for more properly planning other agricultural activities. Experts and government officials hope that the use of such technology in this example will encourage Serbian agricultural producers to adopt more digital solutions.
19) EUR 29.75 million in organic exports in 2019
June 1st, 2020, https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/izvoz-organskih-proizvoda-iz-srbije-skoro-30-miliona-evra-u-2019-godini-2/
More than 13,000 tons of organic products valued at EUR 29.75 million were exported from Serbia in 2019, the majority (EUR 28.7 million) of which was organic fruits and fruit products. This represents an increase of EUR 2.3 million over 2018.
Most organic products were exported to European Union (EU) markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Poland, Austria and Belgium. Serbian organic products also reached U.S. markets. Frozen organic raspberries occupied first place in terms of quantity and value of exports, followed by organic apple concentrate, frozen blackberries and cherries.
Prepared by Business & Finance Consulting (BFC) www.bfconsulting.com Articles are taken directly from local sources without any fact-checking; they are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. Business & Finance Consulting (BFC)’s editing is limited to providing a short summary in English of the texts, highlighting the main points of the original articles. All rights reserved by the authors. BFC takes no responsibility and does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, or assume any responsibility whatsoever for the content, accuracy, and reliability, or completeness of any of the articles.
