External trade of agroindustrial product of Serbia and Republic of Macedonia within the CEFTA agreement

Foreign trade of agro-industrial products and the liberalization of trade exhibits in addition a number of benefits and risks of aggravating circumstances. For food producers in Serbia the process of trade liberalization is a tough competition. This implies the necessity of raising the technological level of production, productivity, efficiency and application of marketing management. Increased competition in the domestic market should contribute to increasing the quality and supply of goods. It is realistic to expect a decline in product prices, which in perspective could be a problem to domestic producers, reducing their income. However, this process allows consumers a wider choice of cheaper goods. The subject of this paper is the foreign trade of agro-industrial products of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia within the framework of the CEFTA agreement signed in accordance with the agreement on free trade. It contributes to the Western Balkan to become economically integrated area for goods and services. It also should be a distinctive destination for foreign investment. The aim of the research is considering possibilities of improving and expanding foreign trade of agro-industrial products of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the reduction of imports from the Republic of Macedonia. The task is, among other things, to quantify the change in order to gain insight on the movement and actual trends, as well as to determine the mutual interdependence of the factors that influenced the dominant tendencies manifested.