Located in the middle of the Balkan peninsula, Serbia is among the countries that draw attention with its ethnic diversity and cultural structure. Serbia, which is one of the important commercial partners of Turkey in both the furniture sector and the woodworking machinery sector, is expected to increase the growth rate in both sectors in the coming years.
Located in Southeast Europe at the intersection of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkans, Serbia is bordered by Hungary in the north, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the west, Montenegro in the southwest, North Macedonia in the south, Romania and Bulgaria in the east. Belgrade is the capital and largest city of the country with a population of 7 million. Energy, automotive industry, machinery, mining and agriculture are among the strongest sectors of the Serbian economy. The main industrial exports are automobiles, furniture, food processing, machinery, chemicals, sugar, rubber, clothing and pharmaceuticals. The main trading partners of Serbia, where trade is of great importance in economic activities, are Germany, Italy, Russia, China and neighboring Balkan countries.
Serbia’s administrative system consists of statistical regions, counties and municipalities. As a result of the conflicts that started in 1998, Kosovo and the Autonomous Region of Metohija broke away from the administrative structure of Serbia de facto since 1999 and declared its independence unilaterally in 2008 and gained the status of a separate state with an ongoing international recognition process. Therefore, administrative units in Kosovo and Metohija do not actually exist. Statistical regions constitute the highest administrative level of Serbia. In 2009, the Serbian National Assembly passed the “Law on Equal Regional Development”, which divides the country into seven statistical regions. However, on April 7, 2010, the law was changed and the number of regions was rearranged as five.
In Serbia’s administrative system, there are counties within the statistical regions. There are 29 districts in the administrative distribution of the country. Seven of them are located in Vojvodina, eight in Shumadia and Western Serbia, nine in Southern and Eastern Serbia, and five in the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija, which are not actually included in Serbia. In addition, there are 150 municipalities in the administrative distribution of the country.
47th country in furniture export
According to the preliminary data of the CSIL Furniture Sector Report prepared by the Center for Industrial Studies (CSIL); Serbia ranked 47th in furniture production, 33rd in exports, 63rd in imports and 77th in domestic sales among the 100 countries subject to the report last year. Serbia, which produced 677 million dollars of furniture at the end of 2021, produced 569 million dollars in 2020, 597 million dollars in 2019, and 570 million dollars in 2018. Looking at the production figures in the report, it is seen that Serbia has managed to increase its production figures every year from 2012 to 2021.
Furniture export of 643 million dollars
Looking at the export data, it is seen that Serbia exports furniture worth 643 million dollars. Exporting 537 million dollars in 2020, Serbia realized 556 million dollars in 2019 and 522 million dollars in 2018. Serbia’s export rates have increased every year, as have production rates. It is expected that the upward trend will continue in the coming years.
Three percent growth is expected in domestic sales
According to the CSIL Furniture Industry Report; At the end of 2021, Serbia realized furniture imports of 198 million dollars and domestic sales of 232 million dollars. Serbia, which is trying to consolidate its place in the world furniture industry, is expected to grow by three percent in 2022 and 2023 in domestic sales.
Turkey is the fifth country that imports the most furniture
Realizing furniture imports from different countries, Serbia imported the most from China with a rate of 17.6 percent at the end of 2021. The countries that import furniture the most after China are Italy with 14 percent, Poland with 13.8 percent, Germany with 9.2 percent, Turkey with 7.2 percent, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 6.2 percent, and 6.4 percent with Italy and Hungary with with 4.1 percent.
The most important export market is the Czech Republic
Looking at the export data in the aforementioned report, it was seen that the most important export market of Serbia was the Czech Republic with 20.8 percent. The Czech Republic was followed by Germany with 8.2 percent, Romania with 7.4 percent, Italy with 6.6 percent, France with 6.1 percent and Croatia with 5.1 percent, respectively.
The most important export market is the Czech Republic
Looking at the export data in the aforementioned report, it was seen that the most important export market of Serbia was the Czech Republic with 20.8 percent. The Czech Republic was followed by Germany with 8.2 percent, Romania with 7.4 percent, Italy with 6.6 percent, France with 6.1 percent and Croatia with 5.1 percent, respectively.
In 2021, approximately 30 million dollars of machinery was imported
When the data of Serbia’s woodworking machinery imports were analyzed, it was seen that the country imported a total of 29 million 463 thousand dollars in machinery in 2021. Serbia imported 17 million 589 thousand dollars of woodworking machinery in 2020 and 23 million 931 thousand dollars in 2019. Serbia produced the most saw machines in the world in 2021 with 7 million 522 thousand dollars. After saw machines, the product groups imported the most were as follows; machines in the group of others, machines that perform various machine operations without changing tools among these operations, bending or joining machines, planer, milling or die-cutting machines.
6 million dollars of machinery exports were made from Turkey to Serbia
In 2021, Turkey’s total woodworking machinery exports to Serbia amounted to 6 million 678 thousand dollars. Turkey exported 4 million 223 thousand dollars of machinery to Serbia in 2020, and a total of 4 million 290 thousand dollars in 2019. In 2021, Serbia imported the machines in the group of others the most with 2 million 678 thousand dollars from Turkey. This was followed by drilling or tenoning machines with 1 million 575 thousand dollars, and machines that performed various machine operations with 889 thousand dollars without changing tools between these processes.