Serbia's Agriculture Sector Posts H1 Trade Surplus of $320 Mln - PM

“The surplus will have a positive effect on the growth of Serbia’s gross domestic product [GDP]. It will also help narrow the country’s overall trade gap,” Cvetkovic told a news conference.

No figures were immediately available on the value of the country's agricultural imports and exports over the review period.

Serbia’s trade deficit shrank by 44.7% year-on-year to $4.02 billion in the first seven months of 2009, the country’s statistics office said last month. Exports fell by 32.9% on the year to $4.51 billion through July, while imports dropped by an annual 39.6% to $8.53 billion.

“Despite the initial drop in demand [for agricultural products] and the decline in global agricultural prices, markets have stabilised. Our long-term projection is for a modest growth in demand and for current prices of agricultural products to remain unchanged,” Cvetkovic told the same news conference.

Together with metallurgy, farming is one of the few sectors of the Serbian economy with a positive trade balance. 

Serbia's economy will shrink by 4.0% this year - a margin wider than the 2.0% contraction forecast earlier, before growing by 1.5% next year, the International Monetary Fund said earlier this month.

($=0.6827 euro)