Excellent corn output – Yields of six tons per hectare to be exceeded significantly

Better days for farmers in Serbia are coming. The yield of six tons of corn per hectare will be exceeded significantly. The expectation of all Serbian farmers who planted corn on around 950,000 hectares, as the experts explain, have been justified, not just by excellent yields, but by prices as well. Corn will definitely, they agree, not share the sad fate of wheat, whose price hasn't justified the investments in the production.

– The year so far has been ideal for corn, a period of rain followed by a period of warm weather – explains Dr Goran Bekavac from the Novi Sad Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops.

– There are almost no bad fields under corn, and I've really traveled through a good part of Serbia. If the weather conditions remain as they have been so far, I believe that the average yield of corn of six tons per hectare can be counted as a failure this year. We should have significantly much more.

Bekavac also says that, even if the average yield turns out to be six tons, we should harvest 5.5 million tons of corn from 950,000 hectares. – The consumption in Serbia is known to be around 4.5 million tons, and, as things stand, it might be even smaller, as the livestock population keeps thinning out – Bekavac said. – As a consequence, corn will have excellent export potential.

This opinion is shared by Zarko Galetin, director of the Novi Sad Commodities Exchange, who points out that no great oscillations of the price of corn are expected even during the harvest.

– Since we are one of the top ten exporters of corn in the world, the world pricing trends reflect on us as well – Galetin said.

– The yield of corn in the world will be solid, but not record-setting. Minor oscillations of the price of corn were caused by the increased supply of wheat, which is also used as livestock food, but it should be kept in mind that corn is stored easily, even in home conditions, so I believe that the price during the harvest will be close to the current one, which is RSD 15 to 16 per kilogram, and which will only grow with time.

– I'm sure that Serbia might offer up to three million tons of corn in the world market this year – Galetin says. – In this way too, corn will once again justify its title of the most cost-effective of all grains.

Unprocessed corn

– Despite good export results, I am not happy that Serbia is exporting unprocessed corn, as if we were an undeveloped country – Bekavac expresses his dissatisfaction.

– If we used all that corn as livestock food and exported ham and other meat products, our income would be far larger.

NS SEME Institut za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo Novi Sad

Produktna Berza Novi Sad

Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad

Novi Sad Commodities Market

corn

wheat

corn yield

Goran Bekavac

corn export

Zarko Galetin

corn output