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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

January foreign trade falls

Belgrade, 27 February 2009

The Serbian Statistics Office said that Serbia’s total foreign trade for January 2009 amounted to $1336.2 million, falling by 39.1% against the same period in 2008.

Export totalled $483.4 million, decreasing by 30.5% from a year earlier, while imports fell by 43.1% to $852.8 million.

Expressed in Euros, exports decreased to € 360 million, or by 23.8%, while imports fell by 37.5 % to €636.8 million against the same period in 2008.

The trade deficit was $369.4 million, a 54% decrease from the same period a year earlier. Expressed in Euros, the deficit was €276.7 million, or went down by 49.3% against the same period last year.

Exports-to-imports ratio was 56.7%, up from 46.4% from a year earlier.

The decreases in imports and exports were due to the global financial crisis.

Major importers of Serbian goods were Germany ($59.1 million), Italy ($1,138.2 million) and Bosnia-Herzegovina ($50.2 million).

The largest exporters to Serbia were Russia ($104.3 million), Germany ($92.8 million) and Italy ($75.6 million).

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

A 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.

The second most important partner was CEFTA countries, a surplus of $63.2 million being achieved mainly as a result of the export of agricultural products.

According to the Standard International Trade Classification, iron and steel have the largest share of exports ($41 million), coloured metals ($26 million), garments ($50 million), metal products ($26 million) and fruit and vegetables ($26 million). The exports in these five sections made up 35.2% of overall export.