Seed production and distribution present one of the most important segments of development of the company Agromarket, participating with 25% in the total annual turnover. Cooperation with leading domestic selection companies- Maize Institute Zemun Polje, Center for forage plants Kruševac, Center for vegetable crops Smederevska Palanka, and foreign companies as well- KWS, Pioneer, Syngenta, LG, Franchi Sementi, Semenis, De Ree, Mosselman, HZPC - has been progressing every year.
As companies Agroseme Kikinda, Semenarstvo Šabac and PD Zaječar had become part of the Agromarket Group, a new chain was created, consisting of producers, processors and distributors of seed crops offering more than 20 000 t of seeds of small grains to the market, 500 000 corn seed units and 1 000 t of seed soybean. The company is also the owner of hybrids of triticale Rtanj and rye Sampion, as well as seed vegetables and flowers Villager.
Corn has been grown on over million hectares, and has thus kept the positon of the leading crop in the territory of Serbia. At the same time, it is the most important export article of Serbian agriculture. More than half of the corn fields are in the territory of Vojvodin, and the rest in the areas below the river Sava and the river Danube. Average yield is a bit lower than European, and is around 4.5 to 5 t of dry grain per hectare, although agro-ecological conditions and genetic potential allow much higher yields. Companies which are members of the Agromarket Group, first of all PIK Južni Banat from Bela Crkva, organize production of seed corn of domestic, as well as foreign selection houses. The produced corn is then processed in processing centers in Kikinda and Šabac, and sent into distribution and sale to end users.
Wheat and other small grains (barley, rye, triticale, oat) have been grown on around 600 000 ha in Serbia, with the decreasing tendency of the grown areas. Around 25% is in the territory of Vojvodina and 48% in Central Serbia. Average yield is over 4.0 t/ha. Most common are the hybrids of winter wheat and barley, while spring small grains are grown on 20% of the total surface area. Seed of high categories is grown in the fields of PD Zaječar and PIK Južni Banat, applying complete technology, first of all hybrids of the Institute of field and vegetable crops Novi Sad, but also seed triticale and rye owned by the main company Agromarket. The produced seed is then processed and packed in processing centers in Kikinda, Šabac and Zaječar, and then transported to distributive centers in Serbia and the region.
Sunflower is the most common oil plant in Serbia, and is grown on around 160 000 ha. In the last few years, in cooperation with, Syngenta and Advanta Seed, apart from production of commercial sunflower, many standard and new hybrids of sunflower are multiplied in Zaječar and Bela Crkva. High quality and high yield of sunflower, oil as well as specialized, so-called IMI hybrids, provide the seed of exquisite attributes to end users in Serbia, and also in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.
Potato originates from South-American Andes from where it has spread to all other continents after Columbus and other conquerors. In the previous decades, Serbia had been producing potato on more than 70 000 hectares, but in the last few years this production decreased drastically. Biggest surface areas under commercial production are in Vojvodina and Western Serbia. Cooperation with leading producers of seed potato in Europe, companies HZPC and Agriko, as well as with their domestic partners, provided Agromarket with the most versatile offer of exquisite potato quality.
Onion (onion, garlic, leek) has been grown on 20 000 ha in Serbia, mostly on smaller surface areas. In the last few years, mostly owing to opening of many hypermarkets, production of fresh, commercial onion has been increasing throughout the season. 10 to 20% of surface areas are under spring onions while the rest is under mature onions. Agromarket provides onion for the Serbian market owing to its cooperation with the leading seed houses such as Mosselman and De Broer and domestic producers such as Agriculture cooperative Novi Knezevac.
Franchi – Seeds of vegetables and flowers are grown on 290 000 ha in Serbia, mostly in the open, but in the last few years surfaces under green-houses have been increasing as well. Leading crops are tomato, paprika, cucumber, watermelon, carrot as well as leguminous vegetables. Agromarket offers seeds of domestic selection houses, foreign selection houses (Franchi sementi, Nunhems, Rijk Zwan, Semenis), and its own line of vegetables and flowers named Villager which satisfies the needs of both hobby users and professionals.
Other seeds – Agromarket as the leading distributor of agricultural products has been trying to offer as many products to its customers as possible. Apart from distribution, production of seed herbs and leguminous vegetables (winter and spring peas) is performed in Zaječar. Agromarket’s offer is especially distinctive in seeds, herbs, leguminous plants and herb-leguminous mixtures. Cooperation with domestic selection houses (Institute for forage plants Krusevac, Bioprodukt) and foreign as well (Franchi sementi), contributes to the biggest offer of this important segment of agricultural production.