German partners strengthen Serbia's exports - Investors plan no withdrawal and announce new investments

Companies from Germany have been among the largest investors in Serbia over the last decade. About 360 enterprises, of which capital comes from that country, today employs nearly 20,000 workers. Despite the effects of the first wave and a threat of the second wave of the crisis, Germans announce new investments.

The company Medsorga will be building a recycling plant in Kraljevo. Delta Real Estate and Bauhaus signed in March an agreement on the construction of the first retail store of that German company in Serbia - in Block 53 in New Belgrade. Construction works are planned to kick off in the first quarter of 2012, and that investment is worth EUR 22 million.

Muehlbauer, which develops high-tech security solutions for ID documents, plans to build a Production and Research Center that will employ local engineers. Implementation of this project is expected to start in February 2012. Norma Group opened its EUR 11.2 million factory in Subotica this month, and the entire production is destined for export. This factory will employ about 400 workers until the end of 2013.

- Germany has always been, and still is, one of Serbia's leading partners in all sectors of the economy - said people at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC).

- Foreign trade exchange in 2010 reached the value of USD 2.8 billion. Germany then ranked third among 156 countries in the value of exports from Serbia and second among 201 countries in the value of imports to Serbia. During the first eight months of 2011, foreign trade exchange with Germany amounted to USD 2.3 billion. Exports to Germany grew by 42.8% against the same period last year. Imports from Germany grew as well, but only by 30%. At this rate, the value of this year's exchange may exceed USD 3 billion.

Exports are growing mainly thanks to German investors, but experts warn that our foreign trade deficit is still quite high, amounting to about USD 0.5 billion, and that the structure of exported goods is unfavorable.

Aid to farmers

Agriculturists in Serbia can count on an aid from Germany in 2012. The German Development Bank KfW is preparing a new credit line of about EUR 20 million for the agricultural sector in Serbia. Loans from that line will be primarily intended for agricultural manufacturers, as well as for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in agriculture, along the entire production chain.

Drugs go both directions

According to the data provided by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Serbia mainly supplies Germany with the following products: machinery parts, sets of ignition conductors, cathodes and sections of cathodes, raspberries, static convertors, electric conductors, drugs... On the other hand, Serbia imports automobiles from Germany, as well as some products that it also exports to that country - drugs, machinery parts, static convertors. The list also include paper, cardboard...

(Note: Complete text is taken from Novosti daily of 24 October 2011)