Last year, the free zones in Serbia recorded the best business results since their founding.
Investments in free zones reached the record-amount of EUR 980.7 million, and foreign investments in free zones comprised more than a fifth of the total foreign investments in Serbia. The companies which operate in the 15 free zones realized a surplus in foreign trade in the amount of EUR 926.5 million, which is an increase by more than 48% compared to 2022.
Free Zone Pirot had the biggest surplus. A total of 254 companies operated in free zones, of which 204 domestic ones and 50 foreign ones. A total of 44% companies are in the manufacturing business, whereas the other companies provide services. The companies in the free zones last year increased the total turnover compared to 2022 by over 22% to EUR 7.71 billion, whereby three business zones, for the first time, exceeded a total turnover of EUR 1 billion.
Compared to the first years of the operations of free zones in Serbia, it is now noticeable that the regional differences are gradually being reduced. Last year, the six free zones in Belgrade, Subotica, Novi Sad, Sabac, Pirot and Uzice participated in the total turnover of the most successful free zones practically equally. The weakest result was recorded by FAS Free Zone in Kragujevac, with a turnover of EUR 142.8 million, which is a drop of nearly 57% compared to 2022. In 2013, that free zone contributed nearly 66% to the total turnover of the free zones in Serbia, whereas, in 2023, its participation in the turnover amounted to below 2%. The turnover grew considerably in as many as 11 business zones, thanks to the fact that the companies which operate in them had increased investments, started new production and expanded the existing production capacities.
Last year, companies from China and Japan invested the most in the free zones in Serbia, over 57% of the total investments. Ten companies from China invested a total of EUR 506.7 million in free zones throughout Serbia, nearly 22% more than in 2022.
Parallel with the growth of investments, the number of employees in the free zones increased as well, by slightly over 2%, to 46,105 workers. Seven free zones employ more than 4,000 workers, five of them employ more than 5,000, whereas two free zones employ more than 6,000 workers.
Last year, five new factories opened in the free zones, so 112 companies from 21 countries from three continents were active in production. The majority of producers come from Germany (24), Serbia (23) and Italy (19). Nearly two fifth of the producers operate in Sumadija and western Serbia, whereas the 11 Chinese production companies are distributed across free zones from the north to the south of the country. The value of the production in the free zones in 2023 reached its historic maximum and amounted to EUR 3.88 billion. It is a growth of over 22% compared to 2022, and more than 95% of the products were exported. The biggest producers mostly belong to the sector of the automotive industry.