Serbian river choked by "garbage islands"

Serbian agriculture census completed

The agricultural census in Serbia concluded in December, 2023, and initial results are expected by January 31, with the final results to be released progressively until December 31, 2025. During the field surveyphase, , conducted from October 1 to December 15, 253 municipal coordinators and 2,842 enumerators were engaged, visiting around 742,000 agricultural households, including family farms, legal entities, and entrepreneurs, as reported on the Agriculture Census website.

In the period from January 10 to 24, 2024, the Statistical Office of Serbia is conducting a post-census survey. The survey will be conducted on a random sample of about 9,000 households, in 96 municipalities, in 144 census circles, on the basis of which quality control of the data collected by 2023 Census of Agriculture will be carried out.

The key features recorded during this agricultural census include the identification data of the farms, land assets, categories of agricultural land use, labor force data, and livestock numbers. Information on organic production and rural development measures was sourced from the administrative records of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management, while data on other characteristics were collected on a sample basis.

The data collection was done through field interviews based on the Agricultural Census Address Book, with enumerators entering the information directly into the electronic questionnaire on laptops. Farms of business entities, agricultural cooperatives, and other organizational forms with legal entity status were surveyed independently by entering data into a web-based questionnaire available from June 1, 2023. The 2023 Agricultural Census was prepared, organized, and conducted by the Republic of Serbia's Statistical Office in accordance with the Agricultural Census Law of 2023 and within the framework of the European Union's IPA 2018 pre-accession funds project. The collected data will provide an overview of the agricultural sector, and the summarized results will be used for statistical analyses to support decision-making for agricultural production and development.

Floating garbage islands

The River Drina, one of the most beautiful European rivers has been turned into a garbage dump, according to coverage by Reuters. The issue is not new as the problem has been recurrent for years - especially during times of heavy rainfalls and high water levels. In previous years, we have reported about “floating waste islands” ( 2023 , 2022 , 2021) that occur at the same location. Different types of plastic waste arrived in Lake Drina from the rivers and tributaries from three countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, flowing from watercourses and river bank areas with poorly arranged landfills.

Reuters published a series of photos by Amel Emric showing tons of waste, including plastic bottles, used tires and various inorganic waste, floating down the river Drina, creating a floating garbage dump, in Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Too much food is wasted annually

One third of the food produced in the world ends up being thrown away, radio-television of Vojvodina (RTV) reported. On annual basis 247,000 tons of food gets thrown away in Serbia, which, observed on a daily level, is as much as 676 tons, as shown by an analysis of the first official survey about food waste in Serbia.

“A lot of food ends up being thrown away in Serbia. Our aim and focus is to gather as much food as possible and help the socially vulnerable populace in Serbia. Also, our aim is to gather as many companies as possible and to help our fellow citizens,” said Srđan Budimcic, from Vojvodina Food Bank for RTV. An average Serbian family of four “throws away” around €350 EUR a year. “A law on the VAT deduction would motivate companies and citizens to donate the existing surpluses in a meaningful way - to a food banks. When we get surplus food, with our partner associations, we distribute it to the socially vulnerable populace,” explained Budimcic.

Food banks should not cooperate with individuals, but only with legal entities like associations and companies, due to product guarantees, reminds RTV.

Low percentage of irrigated agricultural land

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (RZS) announced that 70,429 million cubic meters of water were used for irrigation in the past year, 29.1% less than a year earlier. Most of the water, as stated, was extracted from rivers (93.5%), while the rest was sourced from groundwater, lakes, reservoirs, and the water supply network. The predominant irrigation method was dewing, covering 91% of the total area, followed by drip irrigation (8.7%), while surface irrigation covered only 0.3% of the land.

RZS also reports that in 2023, irrigation was carried out on 47,579 hectares of agricultural land in Serbia, which is 12.9% less than in the previous year. It is noted that fields and gardens had the largest share of the total irrigated area (93.4%), followed by orchards (six percent) and other agricultural surfaces (0.6%). RZS emphasizes that the study on irrigation covered business entities and agricultural cooperatives engaged in agricultural production or managing irrigation systems.

Serbia assumes CEFTA presidency

Serbia has taken over the one-year presidency of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). Officials from Belgrade had previously announced that the priorities during the presidency would include digitization, reducing trade costs and border waiting times, working on recognizing professional qualifications, and completing work on the text of a new additional CEFTA protocol for dispute resolution.

The CEFTA market is the second-largest trading partner for Serbian economy in terms of the volume of trade, exports, and imports of goods, right after the EU. For the first 11 months of 2023, Serbia had over €5.5 billion in trade with CEFTA parties. In this exchange, Serbia had a trade surplus of over €2.5 billion, primarily from the export of electric energy, cereals and cereal products, oil and oil derivatives, beverages, and road vehicles. The coverage of imports by exports was 260.6%. CEFTA is a trade agreement between Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Kosovo. Former members include Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and Croatia, which have since become members of the European Union.

Serbia in trade deficit with two most significant economic partners

For the first nine months of 2023, Serbia has achieved a surplus in commodity trade with seven European Union country members. A surplus in trade was recorded with Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Hungary, as reported by Demostat portal. On the other hand, a trade deficit is noted with Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Greece.

According to the data from the Republic Statistical Office (RZS), Serbia's commodity trade with European Union countries in the first nine months of this year amounted to 59.5%, as reported by Demostat. Germany is the largest export market for goods from Serbia, with exports valued at €3.6 billion in the first ten months, followed by Italy with €1.5 billion, Hungary with €1.4 billion, and Romania with €1.27 billion.

On the other hand, Germany also dominates in imports, having sold goods worth €4 billion. When adding Italy, from whence goods worth €2.2 billion were imported, it becomes evident that Serbia has a deficit with its two most significant European economies. RZS data for the first nine months of this year show that the top 20 largest foreign trade partners constitute 79.4% of Serbia's total foreign trade. Out of these, Serbia exported more than it imported to nine countries, resulting in a total surplus of €2.8 billion.

The negative foreign trade balance in the period between January and September, 2023 was noted in the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing and it amounted to €38.1 million. Exports of the agriculture industry amounted to €672.3 million, which is 33.1% less compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of the sector in the first nine months of the current year amounted to €710.4 million, which is 12.9% more than in the same period of the previous year.

According to local experts, Serbia's negative foreign trade balance in the first nine months of 2023, when it comes to agriculture, is a consequence of inadequate agricultural policy, low subsidies, administrative measures banning exports, as well as a stable dinar exchange rate that discourages exports reports daily Danas.

Sumadija region among the ten wine regions worth visiting this year

Central region of Serbia, called Sumadija, has been ranked among the ten wine regions of CEE that could be a positive surprise in 2024 and are worth visiting, as announced by the well-known wine website Winesofa.eu. The article highlights the region's significant wine and tourism potential. "Šumadija is not the most important wine region in Serbia. It is not the largest, nor the most famous, or with the longest history. Perhaps it is not even the most beautiful. There are no major cities nearby. Belgrade is 70 kilometers away, and the mountain roads make for slow travel. Nevertheless, most Serbs are devoted to Topola and Oplenac. Why? King Peter I established a winery there, next to which stands a grand church and mausoleum, creating a place for pilgrimages during which you can visit the former royal winery," the article states.

Wineries Matijasevic ,  Aleksandovic, Draganic and Arsenijevic are particularly recommended. In addition to Šumadija, the editor of the Winesofa website, Dániel Ercsey, listed other regions from the former Yugoslavia that could pleasantly surprise this year, including Tikveš in North Macedonia, Pelješac in Croatia, as well as Štajerska in Slovenia and the historically rich town of Ptuj. Among the recommended lesser-known wine regions in Central Europe are Lechinca in the Bistrița region of Romanian Transylvania, Modrá Hory in the Czech Republic, the surroundings of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Leithaberg in Austria, Villány in Hungary, and the Valley of Three Rivers in Slovakia. More about Serbian viticulture you can read here.

2.5 million liters of duty-free wine from the EU to Serbia

The Serbian Customs Administration reported that, just like in previous years, up to 2.5 million liters of wine from the EU would be imported to Serbia in 2024 without import taxes. This quota applies to importing wines with preferential origin from the EU.  The Business and Finance portal notes that the wines falling under this quota include those from two categories: standard and slightly more expensive, high-quality wines, including sparkling wines. The portal points out that some experts believe that eliminating duties harms domestic  producers, while others point out that Serbian winemakers do not produce sufficient quantities and that cheaper foreign wines will not take away customers from them. Business and Finance state that the most significant quantities of wine are imported from North Macedonia, which offers very reasonable prices.

Sunoko to process over 200,000 tons of sugar beets

Sunoko, a member of the MK Group - Agri , announced that they would process over 200,000 tons of sugar beets in their three sugar factories, reported daily Politika. As stated at the annual company partners' meeting and sugar beet production seminar, although analyses in August 2023 pointed to a record year in terms of sugar yield per hectare, the poor situation with sugar beet roots in Banat and Srem regions this year will result in an average five-year yield.

It was emphasized that thanks to the sugar factories in Vrbas, Pećinci, and Kovačica, Sunoko will still meet all the domestic sugar market needs this year and export a portion. "Sunoko continues to lead the sugar industry in the region, and our company's business strategy is to develop as a net exporter in the broader region, especially in Western Europe, in the future. The queen of fields was sown on a significantly larger area in 2023, and despite all the challenges we faced, we will produce 60,000 tons more sugar than previous year," said Sunoko's director, Slobodan Košutić. Sunoko released the contracting terms for sugar beet production for the year 2024 in September, 2023. The company offered producers a price of €47 per ton of clean sugar beets, half-price-free seeds, and an advance payment of €600 per hectare.