Metal Industry in Serbia

Serbia is a country with a long tradition in industrial production. Since the mid-20th century, a number of OEM’s have been founded. Although their basic purpose was to serve the growing domestic demand, much of the companies soon became exporters of finished goods and products. Among them: Zastava (cars and trucks), FAP (trucks and buses), IMT and IMR (tractors), Zmaj (combine harvesters and trailers), Sever (electro motors), Pobeda (forklifts), Gosa (rolling stock), Apatin, Sava, Begej and Kladovo (shipyards), Potisje and Lola system (machine tools), (machine tools), Utva (airplanes), Majevica (soil cultivation machinery), Ikarbus and Neobus (buses).
Metal machining industry was concentrated around the OEM’s and served them as suppliers and service providers.
Today, the metal industry landscape of Serbia looks completely different. Most of the big companies/ OEMs do not exist anymore or are limited to serve a diminishing Serbian market. Instead, the leaders are subsidiaries of foreign companies with manufacturing operations in the country like Siemens, Grundfos, Wacker Neuson, FIAT, ATB Motors and many others. The suppliers are mostly family owned SMEs, serving almost exclusively foreign markets. Both parties benefit from the industrial heritage and availability of skilled people.
The future of metal industry in Serbia will be that of high specialization and niche orientation in order to stay competitive in the oversaturated global industry, which is dictated by the economy of scale.