What does the free trade agreement with China bring to Serbia?

The free trade agreement with China covers 10,412 Serbian products (tariff positions) and 8,930 Chinese ones.

"When the Free Trade Agreement enters into force, and we hope it will before June, a large number of agricultural producers, and above all those dealing with fruit, will be able to export their products to China without customs duties. The agreement is not only important for agriculture and its products but also for other parts of the Serbian economy. The Agreement included a large number of products from the machine industry, iron and steel, as well as products from the pharmaceutical industry, and if we can use the vocabulary of the business world, we have conquered a new market - the largest market in the world," Serbia’s Trade Minister Tomislav Momirovic said after the signing.

What is characteristic of Serbia's trade with China is that imports to this country are significantly higher than exports.

By the way, in 2021, China was the second country in terms of the value of imports into Serbia.

The first place was occupied by Germany, from where € 3.77 billion worth of imports were recorded in 2021. Last year, imports from Germany, fell to second place compared despite their growth to € 4.45 billion, as compared to € 4.7 billion worth of goods imported from China.

In the first eight months of 2023, Germany leads again in terms of the value of imports to Serbia - € 3.19 billion, while imports from China amounted to € 2.97 billion.