The Secretary of the Association for Plant Production and Food Industry in PKS, Aleksandar Bogunović, told Tanjug today that 30,000 hectares were planted with wheat this year more than in 2021, and he estimated that this year our country will have enough stocks of this grain.
Last year was a record year for the production of wheat with about 3.7 million tons from 600,000 hectares, while this year 630,000 hectares were sown, said Bogunovic.
He said that Serbia consumes up to 1.7 million tons of wheat a year, and added that consumption is moving in the same volume regardless of the crisis, which is confirmed by the results from the previous two years marked by a pandemic.
Bogunovic also believes that Serbia has sufficient quantities for unhindered exports.
He says that about 740,000 tons of wheat and a little more than 80,000 tons of flour have been exported so far, which means that at the moment we have about a million tons of surplus wheat, which corresponds to our exports from last year.
He added that the situation on the world market is somewhat different and that there has been a drastic increase in prices on the stock exchanges, as well as that it differs from country to country.
He estimated that the growth of wheat prices in the world suits our country, because higher earnings can be achieved, considering that the new sowing will be more expensive compared to the previous year due to the large increase in input.
Bogunović concluded that it is now extremely important for all participants in the production to adopt measures that will enable higher earnings on the one hand, while on the other hand it is important to empty warehouses, because a new harvest is coming in less than four months. new stocks need to be stored somewhere.
He emphasized that the line ministry takes care of the commodity reserves, as well as the grain reserves, in accordance with the regulations and laws.
He also assessed that in the previous period, the supplements that are part of the commodity reserves were intensified.
“Serbia, as a net exporter of food, has enough domestic products to enable the replenishment of regular commodity reserves.” “According to official information, we entered the previous sowing with over 800,000 tons of transferred wheat stocks, which is more than enough for the needs of the country,” Bogunovic pointed out.
Bogunović pointed out that the agreements signed with regular customers from the region, which are our biggest buyers of wheat and flour, should be respected, and if the ban on grain exports comes into force.
He says that it is approximately 105,000 tons of wheat and 35,000 flour, and that Serbia has enough resources to deliver it.
It is extremely important for our traders and producers to respect the contracts they have with foreign partners, because it is not easy to reach foreign buyers, Bogunović added.
“This is the moment when maybe we could even increase sales and reach new customers, and strengthen ourselves in some new markets. If we do not cover those markets, someone else will certainly want to, because wheat and corn are produced all over the world “, said Bogunović.
He added that the announced measures to ban the export of cereals should not affect the price of wheat products in the country in the next two months, because the Decree is in force, which limits the price of basic foodstuffs.
He warned that it is necessary to take measures carefully and to take care of their duration.
“If the export ban lasts, the warehouses will have to be emptied, and we will have record stocks transferred in the history of our country.” In that situation, we will have a great offer, certainly lower demand and thus lower price, which can lead to losses of those who bought and planned production in advance “, explained Bogunović, Politika reports.
