Ministry claims to have reached agreement with raspberry farmers, who refute it

It seems that it is still not certain what this year’s purchase price of raspberries will be, because, after the latest meeting, the Association of Raspberry Producers and purchasers, owners of cooling plants, with the minister of agriculture of Serbia, Aleksandar Martinovic, quite different messages are being sent.

The ministry made a statement first, announcing that an agreement had been reached for the initial purchase price of that fruit to be RSD 250 per kilogram and that it had been agreed for the profit between the producers and the owners of cooling plants to be split 60 to 40% of the average exporting price.

The state, as the ministry pointed out, will monitor the buyout of raspberries in both directions and, if necessary, and to the end of preventing either side from being damaged, intervene in line with the law, and an agreement will be signed as well. Martinovic pointed out that “only through the unification, that is, a synergy, of the agriculturists and the state organs can we respond the challenges of the very demanding global and European raspberry market.”

The competent minister also added that it would be effective to create a system in which both small and big producers would synchronize their activities.

However, the raspberry producers then responded, claiming that it was not true that an agreement had been reached with the purchasers.

The president of the Association of Raspberry Producers of Serbia, Dobrivoje Radovic, as the Beta news agency reports, pointed out that it was not true that an agreement had been reached for the initial purchase price of that fruit to be RSD 250 per kilogram.

– It is not true that a price of RSD 250 dinars has been agreed. We only proposed that price to the owner of two of around twenty cooling plants, and the owner of the company Sirogojno even said that a foreign company was buying out raspberries in the Sabac and Valjevo areas at RSD 190 per kilogram – pointed out Radovic.

He added that neither of the producers had accepted the price of RSD 250 and that the cooling plant “Stanic” had only proposed for the profit to be split 60:40.

He reminded that the Association of Raspberry Producers, within which there were several associations, had asked an initial purchase price of RSD 400 per kilogram and that the Vilamet Association had asked RSD 350 per kilogram. Radovic said that it was only true that the ministry advocated the reaching of an agreement, but added that it was not true that an agreement had been made.

He pointed out that the bad weather reduced the raspberry yield with each day and that the producers would agree the next week about which measures to undertake.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Asocijacija udruženja proizvođača malina i drugog jagodastog voća Malinari Srbije

Udruženje Vilamet Arilje

Association of Raspberry Producers

Association of Raspberry Producers of Serbia

Dobrivoje Radović

Aleksandar Marinović

raspberry purchasers

owners of cooling plants

purchase price of raspberries