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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

January-March foreign trade falls

Belgrade, 30 April 2009

The Serbian Statistics Office said that Serbia’s total foreign trade for January-March 2009 amounted to $5,168 million, falling by 34.6% against the same period in 2008.

Exports totalled $1,666.8 million, decreasing by 33.5% from a year earlier, while imports fell by 35.2% to $3501.2 million.

Expressed in euros, exports decreased to €1,276.3 million, or by 23.8% against the same period in 2008.

Imports fell by 25.7% to €2,682.9 million against the same period in 2008.

The trade deficit was $1,834.4 million, a 36.6% decrease from the same period a year earlier.

Expressed in euros, the deficit was €1,406.6 million, or went down by 27.3% against the same period last year.

Exports-to-imports ratio was 47.6%, up from 46.4% from a year earlier.

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

Major exporters to Serbia were Germany ($194.5 million), Bosnia-Herzegovina ($188.4 million) and Italy ($179.1 million).

The largest importers from Serbia were Russia ($561.4 million), Germany ($398.3 million) and Italy ($320.6 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 Russia, due to the import of oil and gas.

The second most important partner was CEFTA countries, a surplus of $259.7 million being achieved mainly as a result of the export of agricultural products.

According to the Standard International Trade Classification, garments have the largest share of exports ($151 million), iron and steel ($133 million), cereals ($90 million), coloured metals ($85 million) and fruit and vegetables ($81 million). The exports in these five sections made up 32.4% of overall export.