KORONA MEDIUM FISH CONSUMPTION: Carp below producer price

The end of the year marks the beginning of the season of Christmas celebrations and fasts, which lasts until January 7 and is the period of the year when traditionally the most fish are consumed and the fishermen have the most work. However, this year is specific, because the pandemic has cut the demand for fresh fish in half.

Krum Anastasov, director of the “Kapetanski Rit” fish pond in Kanjiža and chairman of the Fisheries Group of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, states that carp is currently offered at a wholesale price of less than 200 dinars per kilogram, which, he adds , is below the production price.

– Kovid has significantly influenced fish production in Serbia and threatens to endanger the entire sector – Krum points out and says that fishermen from neighboring countries receive EU funds and are assisted in marketing and third-party appearance markets.

Fishermen would welcome a 50 percent reduction in fees for water use, or its abolition entirely, pay off their debts on that basis and increase subsidies per kilogram of fish produced, the US initiative says. national producers. They agree that there are other indirect ways to support them, for example, to reduce the price of electricity to fish farmers by 50 percent.

Nikola Mandić, director of the company “Bio Fish”, emphasizes that the history of Serbian fishing lasts centuries and that it is important to preserve the fishing in Serbia. He says that the importance of fishing is multiple. From an ecological point of view, fishing preserves and renews the fish population in Serbian rivers, and infertile lands, pastures and mornings are also renewed, which become ponds and thus start production and employ workers.

– We are now at the peak of annual production, but there is no demand due to the crown. Thousands of tons of carp will remain in the fish ponds, so we will not be able to start new production. Mandic points out the problems, noting that the highest quality carp in Central Europe is produced in Serbia.

According to data from the Bureau of Statistics, the export of fish and fishery products last year was 130 percent higher than in 2014, while the import increased 10 percent compared to the same year. However, in the first eight months of 2020, there was a decrease in exports and imports of fish and fishery products.

– Fishing is a branch that has great potential for development, not only through the opening of new ponds but also in the processing industry. Fish processing facilities, for now, process sea fish, but by freeing the pond from paying the water contribution, primary production in fisheries would be intensified and raw materials would be created for further processing, says Mirjana Miscevic of the Livestock and Livestock Products Association PKS.

By allowing the loan of food (corn-grain) from staple stocks without interest and the introduction of levies and customs duties on freshly cleaned or frozen river fish, producers would find it easier to overcome the reduction period of the market demand, says Miscevic.

Aleksandar Stajčić, Director of DTD Ribarstvo in Bački Jarak, believes that measures to prevent unfair competition and increase subsidies for those who do not work in the “gray zone” should be strengthened. One of the aid measures could be, he says, a subsidy per hectare for the protection of the ponds from cormorants that “steal” large quantities of fish.

By the way, Serbia imports 3.8 times more fish than it produces (last year, the production of carp was 4,728 tons and of trout 2,079 tons). Last year 35,707 tonnes of fish and fishery products were imported for 93,405,000 euros, while 2,659 tonnes of fish and fishery products were exported for 18,248,700 euros. We mainly import fish and fish products from Norway, Spain and Thailand, and export mainly to Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany.

In Serbia, 109 companies and 31 registered entrepreneurs for fish farming are engaged in fish farming.