Serbian mining sector records biggest growth in exports

From January to the end of August this year, Serbia’s exports increased by 26.2 percent, but mostly thanks to the rise in prices of exported goods which went up by 20.5 percent, while the quantity of export products increased by only 4.7 percent, according to the data from the State Statistics Office (RZS).

The same thing can be said for imports. The total value of imports increased by 34.5 percent in eight months, but the prices of imported goods went up 25.3 percent while the quantity of imported goods increased by 7.4 percent.

In terms of economy’s sectors, the export of raw materials went up the most (92.4 percent), with the quantity of exported raw materials going up by 70 percent, and the price only by 13.3 percent. On the other hand, the quantity of fuel exports decreased by 16 percent, while the quantity of exported fuel went up by 83 percent and their price by 53 percent.

The same situation was in the food sector, whereby the quantity of exported products declined by 12.3 percent, but due to a 25.8 percent increase in prices of exported goods, its value increased by 10.3 percent in total. Imported fuel also became more expensive (by 83.5 percent), and with a quantitative growth of imports of 24 percent, the total value of imported fuel in eight months of 2022 increased by as much as 128 percent.

The mining sector recorded by far the largest increase in exports – 185.6 percent – with exports of metal ore going up as much as 190 percent. This growth is mainly due to the higher exported quantity (167.7 percent). Serbia did not benefit much from the rise in metal prices, as the price of exported ore increased by only 8.4 percent, Serbian Monitor reports.