1.1 million tons of wheat and flour for export – Harvesting begins, farmers dissatisfied with prices

The harvesting of wheat started last week all over Vojvodina, wherever weather conditions were favorable, and the first results show that the yield will be good, but that the quality is problematic. This is the consequence of weather conditions and the types of wheat sown by farmers. Nevertheless, this is only the beginning and it is believed that grain quality will improve with the quality of parcels.

- It is expected that around three million tons of wheat will be harvested in Serbia, with an average yield of five tons per hectare. If the weather serves us well in the following days, we should have around 1.1 million tons of wheat and flour ready for export – says Vukosav Sakovic, director of the association Zita Srbije, for eKapija.

Around 50% of harvested wheat is exported to the neighboring countries, whereas the other half is usually sold to international cereal companies in Serbia. As for corn, around 20% is meant for neighboring countries, whereas 80% goes out all over the world, and soy and sunflowers are exported to a lesser extent, mostly to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe.

Our interviewee claims that market trends ultimately influence the amounts exported, but that the price of local wheat will also have a significant impact. Savakovic says that in the past weeks the supplies of last year’s harvest dropped from 350,000 to 300,000 tons, since the farmers used wheat to feed cattle, as it was cheaper than corn.

- The price of wheat was growing before the harvest, whereas in the international market it was going down, which is why at the moment there’s a great difference in value between the new yield and last year’s yield. This is why we can’t make precise projections, since the price of last year’s wheat is higher in Serbia than in the neighboring countries. Most farmers will probably store the new yield in silos this summer and wait for better prices. The final price will for the most part depend on the quality of this year’s harvest – explains Sakovic.

As Zarko Galetin, director of the Novi Sad Commodity Exchange, recently announced in his interview for eKapija, agricultural producers won’t be satisfied with the price, as the market offer will again be large. The price of RSD 15-16 per kg, VAT not included, is expected, which is the lowest price of wheat since the 2010 harvest.

When it comes to other cultures, Vukosav Sakovic says that the barley harvest is already more than halfway finished, in fact, near the end in Vojvodina, and that a good yield is expected, as is for soy and sunflowers, wherever weather conditions were favorable. Sakovic repeats that the damage caused by recent hailstorms is still being estimated, but according to initial indications, wheat and fruit took the biggest damage.

M. Andrejic