While the war in Ukraine is raging and no one knows how long it will last and what economic consequences it will produce globally, Serbian exporters cannot tell in which direction the situation will develop and in that sense they also expect the support of the state.
On Thursday night, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce announced that it would establish a crisis headquarters and a call centre to help Serbian companies doing business with Russia and Ukraine.
“The goal of the call centre is to start disseminating official information it gets from the Serbian authorities and international sources, as well as from the World Trade Organization, European chambers of commerce and experiences of other countries. The Chamber will also do an analysis of the effect of the war on the economy in case of Serbia imposing sanctions to Russia,” said Mihalo Vesovic from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
He estimated that due to the situation in Ukraine, all export sectors in Serbia will be hit.
“The value of Serbian exports to the Russian Federation last year amounted to almost a billion dollars. 10% of our exports are apples. At the same time, out of the 10 largest exporters to the Russian market, nine are from the EU,” Vesovic reminded.
He added that Serbia’s last year’s export to Ukraine was worth USD 200m and that Serbia mostly exports mineral and chemical fertilizers, floor coverings, rubber, paper and cardboard, acetic acid to that country.
“I do not believe that there will be problems, unless the Ukrainian economy stops,” says Vesovic and adds Serbia’s import of steel and iron ore from Ukraine is very important for our economy.
(eKapija, 28.02.2022)
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