March 2, 2012

Serbia's 2011 agriculture crop gains almost US$8 billion

Last year, the agriculture output of Serbia is estimated to be worth EUR6 billion (US$8 billion), according to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Wheat production rose 27% from a year earlier to 2.07 million tonnes due to a higher-than-expected average yield of more than 4.2 tonnes per hectare (2.5 acres), the Belgrade-based chamber said in a report released today. Corn fell 10% to 6.46 million tonnes, it said.

The value of the country's top crops, wheat, corn, sugar beet, sunflower and soy, fell 19% to US$2.2 billion because of lower global prices, the chamber said.

The 2012 harvest will probably produce less wheat and more corn than in 2011, as areas sown for wheat will decrease 0.8% to 467,712 hectares, the lowest in 60 years, while corn will rise 11% to 1.4 million hectares, according to the estimates.

Serbia is also increasing acreage for sugar beet by a quarter to 70,000 hectares, the data showed. Refined sugar was the country's second-biggest agricultural export last year with almost US$160 million of the commodity sold abroad. Corn exports ranked first at US$423.8 million.