A total trade exchange of €9.41 billion made Germany Serbia’s most important trading partner last year. Serbia imported goods worth €5.14 billion from Germany, while exports to Germany achieved €4.27 billion in 2024.
Simultaneously, total trade with Italy, for example, attained €4.49 billion, while Serbia imported from China goods worth €5.11 billion.
Alexander Markus, Executive Board Member of the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, said that Serbia and Germany have doubled trade between each other from 2018 to 2024 (from €4.67 billion to €9.411 billion).
Finished or semi-finished components for further processing in the mobility sector (25%), machines and equipment, mechanical tools, electronic devices (25%), and chemical products (11%) are Serbia’s main imported products from Germany.
Goods from the mobility sector (51%), followed by iron ore and wood products, as well as food (each 11%) and chemical products (7%) primarily make up exports from Serbia to Germany. German investors make more than €2 billion of these exports, including wire harnesses, electronics, cars, and trams.
Stada-Hemofarm (€900 million), ZF Serbia (€580 million), Lidl (€460 million), Continental (€183 million), Brose (€180 million), Metro Cash & Carry (€142 million), and Messer Tehnogas AD (€119 million) are the largest German investors in Serbia. Alexander Markus said that total foreign direct investments from Germany in Serbia have reached around €6 billion since the year 2000. 900 companies create 80,000 jobs and pay 31% higher wages than the overall business sector average. They also generate 16% of Serbian exports and have 7% higher gross added value than the national average.
In spite of an improvement of the business climate in Germany at the end of January, expectations then declined again, and companies remain pessimistic.
Migration also has a significant impact on the German labour market (about 27% of the workforce in Germany are immigrants).
Workers from the six countries of Southeastern Europe have a simplified access to the German labour market due to a prior approval from the Federal Employment Agency. Totally, a fixed quota of up to 50,000 residence permits annually (for all six countries) was set before negotiations on the new coalition government. On the one hand, it contributes to the “brain drain” from Serbia. On the other hand, Serbian skilled and reliable workforce attracts German investments.
There are plans to further reduce the number of workers coming to Germany to 25,000 per year.
A signed employment contract is necessary for anyone coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, or Serbia who wishes to move to Germany under the Western Balkans rule.
NH Logistics SER has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Serbia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.
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