Russians and Israelis visit Topola – Serbian fruit and wine increasingly more present in the Russian market

Representatives of chambers of trade and commerce, associations of factories and tourist organizations from Russia and Israel visited Topola on July 18 and familiarized themselves with tourist and economic potentials of the area.

Russian businessmen have been coming to Topola increasingly more often in the past years, buying out fruit and wine, enjoying the food and touring the wineries. This could serve as a foundation for an even larger economic cooperation between Serbian and Russian regions.

– Even though you possess high quality and healthy products and delicious food, your production capacities are small, considering the size of the Russian market. Nevertheless, you could export your products to certain regions in Russia and supply them with something which originated in Serbia – said Irina Rosolyina, representative of the Russian delegation of chambers of commerce and tourist organizations.

– The first shipment for Russia has been prepared this month. Our capacities are seven million liters of wine, which we are planning to fill in the next three years, which means that we will be able to export to the Russian market with full capacity – says Nevena Stevanovic, PR Manager of the winery PIK Oplenac.

PIK Oplenac was privatized two years ago and is now under Serbian-Russian ownership. In addition to the wine from Topola, the fruit grown in this area has great export potential.

– For years now, Russian businessmen have been coming here and buying Topola fruit. We are currently one of the best known areas when it comes to growing fruit. Around EUR 20 million gets exported from Topola to Russia, mostly in fruit. On the other hand, we hope to expand our tourist activities as well – says Dragan Zivanovic, president of the municipality of Topola.

Topola has already placed itself on the wine map of the world, whereas the rest of Serbia might attract tourists from the east with its gastro-tourism.

The goal of the visit of the foreign delegation to Topola is the development of the cooperation in the areas of economy, trade and tourism with Russia.

PIK Oplenac d.o.o. Topola

export of fruit to Russia

export of wine to Russia

Irina Rosolyina

Nevena Stevanovic

winery PIK Oplenac

Dragan Zivanovic