Livestock production is important branch of agriculture in Republic of Serbia and externally, Serbia can serve as a base for duty-free exports to a market of 1 billion people including:• The European Union,• The United Statesof America,• Russia,• Turkey,• South East Europe,• The European Free Trade Agreement states, and• Belarus.
This customs-free regime covers most key industrial products, with a small number of exceptions and annual quotas.Serbia is also amongst the lowest in the region in labor costs. It also boasts one of Europe’s lowest Corporate Income tax rates set at 10% and the Value Added Tax of 18% is among the most competitive in Central and Eastern Europe
Recently, Arrowtrack (www.atbalkans.com) has reported a number of companies that they have identified in wine production, meat production and poultry production which are seen as attractive buyout targets. “We have had interest from companies worldwide in these companies and believe it is a good expansion target for companies in the world, and especially in the Balkans to increase their revenues in this difficult marketplace.” said Manos Ioannidis, Vice President of Balkans.com
According to the institute of Animal Husbandry, over 700.000 households are engaged in livestock production, which is over 55% of total number of households. Livestock production provides necessary products (milk, meat, eggs) for nutrition of domestic population. Also, livestock production provides raw materials for food industry (dairy plants,slaughterhouses, meat industry, conditory industry and leather industry). Livestock production is expected to provide high quality products for export, primarily beef and lamb meat. Chance/opportunity for export exists also for cheeses of high quality (especially sheep and goat cheeses) of defined origin and quality. Serbia has over 6.12 million ha of agricultural area, with 60% of arable land with the lowest usage rates of artificial pesticide in Europe. Additionally, there are substantial areas for expanding organic production on more than 200,000 ha
Growing presence is present in the whole world, from Japan to the United States, under Serbian brands and world’s largest supermarket chains such as Tesco, Lidl, Asda, Spar, Carrefour, Metro, Idea, Leader price, Kopeika, and Rewe, Serbia is currently holding a solid but understated presence in the global fruit and vegetable market. Given its vast potential, the future certainly seems bright for Serbian products, as customers keep increasing orders for Serbian truffles, raspberries, apples, corn and other high quality produce. Currently, the industry exports juices, concentrates, purees, jams, and frozen and dried fruit. A number of markets are familiar with Serbian produce, namely Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, UK, Japan, Russia, and Belarus.
