Serbia sows less wheat in 2016 than in 2015 – Yields sufficient for local needs, export uncertain

Wheat was sown on around 500,000 ha in Serbia last year, which is around 18% less than in 2015. Of this, as much as half was sown outside the optimal deadlines.

– The wheat sown after November 10 has only sprouted and is less resistant to low temperatures, which means that yields will be lower than last year's 4.8 tons per hectare – says the director of the agricultural sector of CCIS, Zarko Galetin.

According to him, experts are currently deliberating what combination of fertilizers should be used to recover the wheat.

Branislav Gulan of the Board for Rural Areas of SASA points out that no more than 450,000 hectares were sown this autumn, the lowest amount in the past 50 years.

– It will be good if there's enough wheat for local consumption, supplies and seed production, which is around 1.55 million tons of grains. It will be hard to secure amounts sufficient for exporting – Gulan says.

According to Srbislav Dencic of Novi Sad's Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, this year's wheat crops will also be lower due to the fact that considerable areas were sown not with seeds, but with stored wheat, and the fact that producers in Vojvodina used foreign types not resistant to these kinds of weather conditions.

Dencic adds that, despite everything, the estimate is that this year's yield will be sufficient for local needs.

The world production of wheat in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, amounted to 751.26 million tons, which is 6.54 million tons more than in 2015.

Privredna komora Srbije

NS SEME Institut za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo Novi Sad

SANU Beograd

wheat

wheat production

Zarko Galetin

Branislav Gulan

Srbislav Dencic

wheat yield