Wheat exports may reach a new record in Serbia. While the Balkan country shipped more than a million tonnes of wheat abroad last year despite restrictions and bans on grain exports, it still has 700 thousand tonnes of last year's bread grain harvest. This will ensure that the country will have enough wheat by the next harvest not just to meet its own needs, but also to sell, according to experts.

Bread grain in high demand

In total, one and a half million tonnes of wheat are needed to meet the needs of the Serbian market, compared to an average harvest of almost 3.5 million tonnes in a normal year. This means that there is plenty of bread grain available for export.

Last year, exporters and farmers could have made a good profit, because the war in Ukraine turned the grain market upside down. Although difficulties surrounding the delivery of Ukrainian wheat have offered an extra opportunity for Serbian producers, they were unable to take advantage of it.

Fearing supply uncertainties, the state restricted the foreign sales of maize and wheat for much of the year, causing discontent in the agricultural sector and even among traders.

This year, however, the tables seem to be turning and new sales opportunities are opening up for the Balkan country. In the last few days, the agricultural press has reported that Serbia is negotiating with Egypt on wheat exports, and they also published some rather precise figures. For example, Bloomberg reports that the African state would buy one million tonnes of wheat from Belgrade. Egypt is a major importer of bread grain.

Photo: V4NA

Although it harvests wheat from its own territory, that is insufficient to cover even one half of its needs. Therefore, the country needs to buy 11 million tonnes a year on top of its own produce.

Serbia and Egypt to establish a free trade agreement

So far, the Serbian government has not specified how many tonnes of wheat it wants to sell to Egypt, nor when this would happen. It is certain, however, that high-level negotiations between Belgrade and Cairo began last July, when President Abdel-Fattah es-Sisi arrived in the Serbian capital.

The visit resulted in 13 signed agreements between Egypt and Serbia. In this regard, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that an agreement was reached on the sale of wheat, after Serbia previously obtained the necessary certificate for the delivery of bread grains and apples.

The importance of the decision at the time was also confirmed by Serbia’s agriculture minister.

Following her meeting with the Egyptian ambassador in Belgrade last December, Jelena Tanaskovic underlined that the conclusion of a free trade agreement was a priority for Belgrade, because Cairo was interested in buying wheat and Serbian fruits.

Of course, Serbia cannot fully satisfy the Egyptian market, but in this financial year it will be able to export nearly one and a half million tonnes of wheat, Zarko Galetin said. According to the agricultural economics analyst, it is unrealistic for Egypt to be shipped one million tonnes at once, so the question is how much time Serbia needs for delivering such volumes to the African country, the specialist added.

Photo: V4NA

„The economic year 2022-23 may set a record in terms of export volumes. This is because last year’s ban on exports has amounted to considerable stocks of reserves,” Mr Galetin added.

In the previous business year, Serbia realised $255 million in wheat exports and $557 million in corn exports. Looking at the foreign trade balance, the Balkan country earned 4.9 billion dollars from the export of agricultural and food products in 2021, which represents a 19.7 per cent increase compared to the year before.