No Trade Agreement with Britain Yet, Tariffs on Serbian Products up to 20% Again

In the past years, Serbia has had a double-digit growth rate when it comes to exports to Great Britain. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, the merchandise trade amounted to EUR 500 million, and the service trade was worth EUR 600 million.

At the same time, EUR 90 million arrived in the form of direct British investments. Whether this trend is to continue following Brexit depends on how fast a new trade agreement is reached. Covid-19 has postponed the reaching of a new trade agreement, but there have been other delays as well.

From the last day of 2020, the old terms of the trade with Great Britain no longer apply, and no new agreement has been signed. Tariffs of up to 20% have been reintroduced in the British market when it comes to Serbian products.

The current situation is not in the interest of over 400 companies with the majority British capital in Serbia either. They employ 22,000 workers and primarily produce components for the British automotive industry.

The Ministry of Trade of Serbia says that the government’s priority is to have a new agreement signed as soon as possible. According to what is known at the moment, it will not feature only stipulations pertaining to trade, but also define the overall relations.

– We have made some slight complaints. I expect an agreement to be reached in the first days of February and for the second round of negotiations to begin, a second video-conference, where we will be able to talk to the British side as partners about the signing of one such all-encompassing agreement – says Stevan Nikcevic, the state secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications.

The ministry says that there have been no indications in the negotiations so far that, under the new agreement, the Serbian exporters might lose the benefits they enjoyed under the old one.

All will be known in the next couple of months, when the new agreement is expected to be signed.

Sirogojno Company d.o.o. Sirogojno

Privredna komora Srbije

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Sirogojno co

Chamber of Commerce of Serbia

Ministry of Trade

CCIS

trade between Serbia and Great Britain

tariff on products

British investments

Rade Ljubojević

Mihailo Vesović

Stevan Nikčević

trade agreement

export to England

export to Great Britain