In the first eleven months of last year, Serbia exported 12.2 billion EUR worth of goods and services which was an 11% hike relative to the same period in 2015.
Only in November 2016, the country’s export amounted to 1.2 billion EUR which is 1/5 more than in November 2015. Serbia mostly exported electrical equipment, food, metal and tires.
Import has also been growing but not at the same rate as export. In the 11 months last year, export grew by 5.6% compared to 2015.
“November’s export grew by 154 million EUR. Out of that amount, 25 million EUR was generated from exporting electrical equipment, 21 million EUR from food, 20 million EUR from basic metals, and 10 million EUR was generated from exporting rubber products. Gorenje was one of the biggest exporters of electrical equipment last year”, Ivan Nikolic, editor-in-chief of Macroeconomic Analyses and Trends magazine says.
“In terms of exporting food, our biggest export product is maize, followed by frozen fruit. We need to start exporting more complex products and the opportunities regarding that are endless. The situation has been steadily improving thanks to investments which bring the know-how and technology. In 2016, our IT industry generated over 500 mln EUR. Software is a product that requires a higher level of knowledge and the most skilled workforce”, Nikolic explains.
The European Union remains Serbia’s biggest foreign trade partner. “The large-scale project called Silk Road, which the Chinese government has been implementing, should give Serbia a good opportunity to connect to other countries which are en-route of this new economic direction, with a special emphasis on the countries in Central Asia”, says Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
(Vecernje Novosti, 15.01.2017)
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