Miller Magazine Issue: 115 July 2019

In Serbia, agricultural land amounts to around 3.5 million hectares. Arable land represents a bit above 2.5 million hec- tares, which is approximately 73% of total agricultural land in Serbia. Production of grains and oil seeds in Serbia is domi- nated by corn with almost 1 million hectares sawn every year. Wheat follows with around 600 thousand hectares, soy- beans with around 250 thousand hectares, sunflower seed with around 230 thousand hectares, barley with 80 thousand hectares and rapeseed with around 50 thousand hectares. Adverse weather conditions, different varieties of wheat in production as well as large deviations in agro-technolo- gy give a very wide range in all quality parameters. The distribution of wheat to quality groups in Serbia is based on protein content according to the table below: Depending on the size of the wheat crop, Serbia ap- pears on the international market annualy with an amount of 840 - 1,350 thousand tons of wheat and 2,5 to 3,5 million tons of corn. Average exports in the last five years were at level of around 1 million tons of wheat and 2,5 mill. tons of corn on yearly basis. Based on the analysis of the SGS in the last three years, Serbia has produced in average: • 12.33% of with proteins below 11% • 12.34% of wheat with proteins range from 11 to 11.5% • 20.00% wheat with proteins 11.5 - 12% • 28.00% wheat with proteins 12 - 12.5% • 29.00% wheat with proteins above 12.5% In 2018, 1.202.317 tons of wheat was exported from Serbia, which represents an absolute record. A good ex- port results were caused by excellent yields in the previ- ous two years, but also by the growing sales on the FOB Danube ports parity. About 600,000 tons of wheat was shipped via the Danube, which makes up 50% of total ex- ports (a year earlier this percentage equaled only 6.67%). During 2018, wheat flour export from Serbia equaled 176.112 tons (last year 235.457 tons) with biggest tra- ditional buyers of Serbian wheat flour being: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Italy. In the frames of the latest mutual project between Associ- ation Serbia Grains with the Food and Agriculture Organiza- tion of the United Nations (UN FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) titled “Building capacity of the agribusiness association in emerging mar- kets”, Association Serbia grains organized SERBIA CROP TOUR 2019 which had just finished in the second week of June. This event aimed to determine the expected quantity and quality of this year’s Serbian wheat crop. Representa- tives of the Association Serbia Grains, together with cer- tified samplers, visited as many as 70 municipalities, ie all regions in which wheat is grown, after which the samples were processed and analyzed. 2019 is definitely a specific year when it comes to wheat in Serbia. Starting from the fact that the weath- er was favorable in December and January for wheat which was under the snow cover, over extremely un- favorable weather conditions in the continuation of the vegetation peri- od - from extreme drought to heavy rains, made for Serbian farmers hard- er or completely impossible to apply all agrotechnical protective measures. As a result, around 7 % smaller wheat yields are expected this year compared to the previous year, which was also a record year. Howev- er, this year wheat crop will still be slightly higher than the five-year average in our country, so it will not significantly affect the trade, processing and export of Serbian wheat. This year’s Serbian wheat crop is expected at level of 2.6 million tons with 1.1 million tons of wheat available for ex- ports. It is my pleasure to exclusively announce at this edition of Miller’s Magazine the first National Grain Conference in Serbia which will be organized at the Serbian capital Belgrade at the end of October this year, within the frames of mentioned pro- ject with UN FAO and EBRD and with the cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, forestry and water management of Republic of Serbia. At the National Grain Conference, do- mestic producers and traders will have the opportunity to be acquainted with the world trends and current developments in the international grain market and potential buyers from abroad to see the potentials of Serbian production.