Serbia has an opportunity to increase exports of agricultural products to the Russian market from the current 117 million to 300 million dollars by the end of the year, and if we were to use all our capacities, exports could be even higher, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić.

“Since the beginning of this year, we marked a significant increase (of about 68%) in exports, especially food, to the Russian market, which makes the current value of exports about 117 million dollars, bearing in mind that the total exports for last year were $172 million of agricultural products and foodstuffs”, said Ljajić.

After Moscow’s official decision of a one-year ban on the import of fruits, vegetables and other foods from the EU, Serbia was given an opportunity to increase its exports of agricultural products and foodstuffs to at least $300 million by the end of 2014, although it could be significantly higher if we were to use all our manufacturing capacity.

Commenting on the views of some local analysts who say that Serbia does not have sufficient production capacities to meet Russia’s demand for food and other agricultural products, Ljajić said that “there is nothing new” in saying that we do not have enough resources or manufacturing capacities to meet the demand of not only the vast Russian market, but the overall market of the Customs Union, including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“But the other fact is that we still have not used all the capacities provided to us through the Free Trade Agreement that we have with the Russian Federation, and the new circumstances arising from the current state of affairs. We are not happy about these circumstances and we hope that the normalization of relations between the EU and the Russian Federation will come soon, but under the current circumstance, of course we should try to take advantage of the given opportunity”, said the Minister of Trade.