Highlights of the Month

Taste of Serbia

At this year's international food fair "World Food Moscow 2016", which took place from 12th to 15th September in Moscow, 12 Serbian companies participate within the National stand of Serbia, jointly organized by the Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS ).

Serbian food industry is presented by: Agroprom, Ciric Agro, Flora International, Global Seed, ITN Group, Jugprom, Mirax Agrar, Moravac ZZ, Nectar, PIK Juzni Banat, Vocar, and Zlatiborac.

World Food Moscow is the leading international fair in the food industry in Russia and the former Soviet Union and exists for more than 20 years. In 2015 the fair was visited by about 31,000 visitors from 96 countries.

In October this year, Serbian food industry will also be presented at another world-known exhibition – SIAL 2016, that will take place from October 16 to 20 in Paris. 

New investor in Serbia

On August 19, Minister of Economy Mr. Goran Knezevic, the Mayor of Nis, Mr. Darko Bulatovic, and the general manager of the Dutch company Cooperatief IMI Europe, Mr. Erik De Candido, signed the Memorandum on the construction of the company’s production facility in Nis.

Cooperatief IMI Europe will invest more than EUR 30 million in the construction of the 20,000  sqm facility and employ 1,500 workers in a ten-year period. The factory will produce car components and will be the company’s production center for Central Europe.

According to the Mr. De Candido, the company made its final decision on investment location after nine months of research, and the main reasons why the have chose Nis are the qualified workforce and dedication of local and central government to the project.

Organic food in Serbia – exports rose 500% in the last three years

According to the Serbia Organica Association, Serbia has more than 2,000 producers of organic food. The main products that are exported are fruit, fresh apples and frozen raspberries and blackberries, but also soybeans, cereals, vegetables, medicinal plants, etc.

It is noticable that the interest in this production in recent years is much higher. The largest area of ​​organic production in 2015 was under cereals (32%), fruit (22%) and industrial crops (20%). The value of exports of organic products in 2015 was EUR 19.6 million, and almost the entire export of organic products is consisted of frozen and dried fruits (mainly raspberries). The biggest export was to EU countries, especially in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Hemofarm – Stada Center for SEE

Due to changes in the global market, German Stada made some strategical changes in the company’s organization, meaning that it will be organized in the six regional zones, including Serbia`s Hemofarm in charge of zone of Southeast Europe.

Vrsac-based Hemofarm will be covering the territory of Hungary, Slovenia, Croatian, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, with about 3,500 employees.

Also, in August 2016 Hemofarm made an acquisition of the products, the production facility in Stari Banovci, the employees and the intellectual property of Serbian pharmaceutical company Ivancic i Sinovi.