According to the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) and Serbia’s Statistical Office (RZS) data, the European Union (EU) was Serbia’s largest trade partner from 2010 to 2021, and more than 63 percent of the total foreign direct investments in Serbia came from EU-based companies, said the Demostat Research and Publishing Center.

The Center said data from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the RZS on trade exchange with the EU show that Serbia’s total trade from 2010 to 2021 revolved around the EU, as the backbone of Serbia’s foreign trade exchange.

Serbia’s total trade with the EU in 2021 reached 30.28 billion euros, which is 23 percent more than in 2020.

It noted that Serbia’s exports to the EU in 2021 set a new record when it comes to the total value of exports to the Union.

In 2021, when the Serbian economy was facing the consequences of the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, total export of almost 14 billion euros was recorded, which surpassed the previous record in exports to the EU from 2019 that amounted to 11.4 billion euros, said Demostat.

A significant increase in the coverage of imports from the EU was also recorded. In 2021, 85 percent of Serbian imports of goods from the Union were covered by exports from Serbia to the EU.

The EU members states that stand out as Serbia’s particularly important trade partners include Germany, Italy, Hungary and Romania, to which Serbia exports most of its goods, while it imports most goods from Germany and Italy.

Demostat noted that EU was also Serbia’s largest foreign trade partner in 2010, with almost 10 billion euros in exchange value.