Farmers: Importers and processors hold a monopoly and the state is supporting it

Farmers from seven agricultural associations announced after a joint meeting that they are demanding action from the government regarding prices they claim are fixed through collusive agreements between importers and processors.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Dragan Glamočić called their protest politically motivated, whilst the farmers maintain that they want to inform the wider public that the Serbian farmer is being ruined for the benefit of big capitalists.

Farmers claim that importers and processors are keeping prices unacceptably low by monopolising the market, describing the agreements between buyers of agricultural produce as cartel-like.

Several days ago, seven agricultural associations from Vojvodina issued a statement calling on the state to react to the drought and the monopolies setting purchase prices, warning that they will otherwise stage a major protest.

“The latest market developments are a continuation of the ongoing plunder of agricultural producers who find themselves in an unprecedentedly dire position. Following the theft of wheat at a price of 20 dinars and a total lack of state response to an unprecedented drought that has been destroying crops for several years, market cartels are now attempting to seize the new sunflower crop at a price far below those in the region – which range from €550 to €580 per tonne excluding VAT – whilst the global price of crude oil stands at $1,200 per tonne. They are importing meat of dubious origin and driving down the price of bulls on the domestic market, all while the cost of raw materials imported by these cartels and lobbies continues to surge,” they stated.

In recent years, farmers’ initiatives have primarily focused on the decline of agriculture – specifically the issues rendering farming unprofitable and unsustainable. Record-low purchase prices are cited among the main problems, with farmers blaming the state for an inadequate response to the issue.

“We do not have a normal market like farmers in other countries do; ours is constantly burdened by severely low produce prices and expensive production. We have institutions – the anti-monopoly commission and market inspectorates – that ought to investigate this. However, as we well know, the institutions in this country are not doing their jobs,” says Mileta Slankamenac from the association called Initiative for the Survival of Farmers of Serbia.

Slankamenac also compared prices in Serbia with those in neighbouring countries, using sunflower prices as an example, which he claims are nearly €100 per tonne higher abroad.

Saša Tomas – Ćapi, a farmer from the Banatska Crnica Farmers’ Association, argues that the government turns a deaf ear to farmers and that it is in the state’s interest to reduce the number of farmers to a minimum.

“This is a continuous destruction of agricultural production, and by extension of us as farmers. All these big capitalists and large purchasing agents are closely connected with the ruling authorities, and they are allowed to get away with anything in exchange for returning favours when needed. Meanwhile, we are left entirely at their mercy,” stresses Tomas, who adds that “sunflower currently costs 82 dinars in Hungary, whereas here it is 40 dinars plus VAT,” questioning why the ministry does not ensure Serbian farmers receive similar prices.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Dragan Glamočić disagrees with the farmers, having stated on RTS just a week prior that the price of sunflower had reached 50 dinars, whilst describing the farmers’ protests as “a minority attempting to exploit this situation for their own political promotion.”

Furthermore, the National Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management adopted a package of recommendations on 24 August to support domestic producers. These recommendations include waiving the requirement to provide proof of how the subsidies of 18,000 dinars per hectare were spent, thereby allowing farmers to receive the subsidies without needing to present receipts beforehand.

Although these subsidies offer significant relief, Tomas views the removal of the receipt requirement as a tactic to pacify farmers.

“Yesterday, the government issued a decree stating we won’t have to justify the initial 18,000 dinars we received with receipts. But that makes no sense now, because we had already prepared all the receipts, whilst we don’t even know whether we will receive the potential 17,000 dinars (for seeds) that was promised. We demand that the state urgently disburse those 17,000 dinars to us in September so we can overcome the crisis we are currently in. We simply cannot carry on like this,” Tomas said.

Agricultural economics analyst Žarko Galetin believes the market is unregulated and that the law on the agricultural produce market is unworkable in practice.

“Sunflower, for instance, cannot tolerate prolonged storage and must be purchased immediately. We have four large oil refineries in Serbia, and a similar situation exists for other crops, which means a massive number of producers on the market face a very small number of buyers. This creates an oligopolistic market where buyers form what has become known in our terminology as a cartel agreement, assuming the role of blackmailers,” says Galetin. He adds that a complete market reorganization is required to ensure fairness, as farmers – currently in an unequal position – not only lack control mechanisms over the market, but cannot even protect themselves.

Nevertheless, Mileta Slankamenac is not optimistic that the current protest notes will force institutions to do their jobs, though he believes they will help inform the wider public about the farmers’ plight – issues he stresses affect every citizen purchasing agricultural products in any form.

“Our association backed the student movement from day one. What the students are asking for is also our motto: that institutions start functioning. There will always be problems, but not on this scale. Every market inspector, every institution has independence in its work – or at least that is how it should be by law. That does not function here, and it is completely clear how we intend to solve this problem: this problem is resolved at the ballot box,” says Slankamenac.

(Danas, 27.08.2026)

https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/poljoprivrednici-uvoznici-preradjivaci-monopol/