EUR 300,000 worth of ice exported from Serbia in 2014 - Here is how our country became exporter and who is in this business in Serbia

Over the past few weeks, high temperatures in Serbia led to an increased demand for air conditioning systems and greater consumption of ice. It seems that manufacturers have realized this need for cooling off is serious, so they reacted by boosting their production capacity. It should also be stressed that after being an importer of ice for few years, our country has finally made it to the list of countries that export this product.

According to the data provided by the Customs Administration of the Finance Ministry, Serbia exported 1,300 tonnes of ice worth EUR 300,000 in 2014, mainly to neighboring countries - Bosnia-Herzegovina (172 tonnes, EUR 21,000), AP Kosovo-Metohija (816 tonnes, EUR 116,000), Montenegro (189 tonnes, EUR 47,400) and the Republic of Macedonia (23 tonnes, EUR 4,400).

In 2015, a total of 1,200 tonnes of ice worth EUR 242,000 have been exported so far. Most of this ice was supplied to AP Kosovo-Metohia (655 tonnes, EUR 106,000), Montenegro (221.5 tonnes, EUR 57,000), Bosnia-Herzegovina (146 tonnes, EUR 25,700), the Republic of Macedonia (76 tonnes, EUR 17,000) and Croatia (30 tonnes, nearly EUR 8,000).

People at the Customs Administration told eKapija that they too were suprised by the amount of ice exported from Serbia, adding that the most probable reason for final destinations being mainly ex-Yugoslav countries lied in the specificity of transport of one such product. Although there are companies in Serbia whose core activity is ice production, storing and distribution, none of these companies have made it to the least of top exporters of ice. Instead, the list mainly includes companies engaged in trading and distributing consumer goods - food, drinks, water, etc.
Official data show that top exporters in 2014 were Virdzinija (EUR 133,757.10), which has remained on top of the list in 2015 as well (EUR 82,006.81), Trnava promet (EUR 23,091.80) and Planinka (EUR 20,793.84). In 2015, a significant amount of ice was exported by Kimby-Co d.o.o. (EUR 22,334.07), Heba (EUR 18,024.15), PMV Tronosa (EUR 16,434.87) and Pharmaswiss (EUR 15,464).

However, people from these companies were mainly surprised when asked by the journalists of eKapija to give more details about ice exports, claiming that either their companies were not in that business or that the amount of ice exported was insignificant. Most of them were astonished at the very fact that someone in Serbia is seriously engaged in the exportation of ice.

By the way, in addition to being used to cool drinks in cafes, restaurants and bars, ice also serves to keep food fresh, fish in particular, to can groceries, as well as to treat sports injuries.

Marko Andrejić

Uprava Carina Beograd

TRNAVA PROMET DOO KRAGUJEVAC

Planinka a.d. Kuršumlija

Kimby Co d.o.o. Beograd

Heba a.d. Bujanovac

PMV Tronoša Korenita

PharmaSwiss d.o.o. Beograd

Virdžinija d.o.o. Kraljevo

ice

ice exports

air conditioning

Customs Administration of the Finance Ministry

Virdzinija