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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

September foreign trade up year-on-year

Belgrade, 31 October 2008

The Serbian Statistics Office said that Serbia’s total foreign trade in the period January-September 2008 amounted to $26.73 billion, rising 38.4% against the same period in 2007.

Expressed in euros, the volume of foreign trade stood at €17.54 billion, marking an increase of 22% against the same period in 2007.

Exports totalled $8.67 billion, surging 36.4% from a year earlier, while imports rose 39.3% to nearly $18.1 billion.

Expressed in euros, exports increased to €5.69 billion, or by 20.3%, while imports went up 22.9% and amounted to €11.85 billion against the same period in 2007.

The trade deficit was $9.39 billion, a 42.2% increase from the same period a year earlier. Expressed in euros, the deficit amounted to €6.16 billion, or rose by 25.3% against the same period last year.

Exports-to-imports ratio was 48%, down from 49% from a year earlier.

The increase in imports in this period was due to import of energy resources. The increase in exports was mainly due to the results of the privatisation and company restructuring, as well as signed and ratified agreements on free trade with countries signatories of the Stability Pact.

Another factor causing the increase in exports is the surplus in food exchange (fruit and vegetable export stood at $363 million, grain products at $233 million), as well as the signed Agreement with the EU allowing Serbian textile products preferential exchange rates.

The most exported items were intermediate goods, accounting for 68.5% ($2.214 billion) of overall exports, followed by consumer goods, which made up 24.9% ($803 million) and equipment, making up 6.6% ($213 million) of total exports.

Imports were also dominated by intermediate goods 66.1% ($5.7 billion), consumer goods 25.8% ($2.23 billion) and equipment 8.1% ($705.8 million) of overall imports.

Major importers of Serbian goods were Montenegro ($1.04 billion), Bosnia-Herzegovina ($1.04 billion) and Germany ($922.1 million).

The largest exporters to Serbia were Russia ($2.77 million), Germany ($2.14 million) and Italy ($1.7 billion).

The greatest foreign trade was recorded in commerce with the EU, which accounted for more than half of total trade.

The foreign trade surplus was realised in commerce with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. The largest trade deficit was in commerce with Russian due to the import of oil and gas.

Second most important partner are CEFTA countries, with which a surplus of $1.46 billion was realised as result of export of iron and steel as well as agricultural products.

According to Standard International Trade Classification, iron and steel have the largest share in exports ($1.27 billion), coloured metals ($591 million), garments ($349 million), metal products ($365 million) and fruit and vegetables ($363 million). The export in these five sections makes up 36.2% of overall export.