Carp Prices Jump in Novi Sad as Tomatoes Get Cheaper

The highest price of carp in Serbia has climbed by 160 dinars per kilogram since early August and now stands at 1,250 dinars, according to the latest market price data from the Republic Statistical Office. That is what the fish costs in Novi Sad. Over the same period, tomatoes and peppers got cheaper, with the sharpest drop recorded in Leskovac.

The Statistical Office regularly tracks the prices of staple foods at markets and stores in major cities, and this snapshot shows city to city differences of up to four times for the same item. Srpske novine has previously reported on meat prices and on how Serbian food prices compare to the European Union average, but not on this city by city market breakdown.

Sources disagree on the exact period the comparison covers. Informer writes that it compares early September with early August, while Ozon Media states that the Statistical Office collected the data from August 15 to 21 and published the report on September 4.

Fish and dairy get more expensive

Fish saw the sharpest increase. The highest nationally recorded carp price rose from 1,090 to 1,250 dinars per kilogram, while the lowest climbed from 600 to 640 dinars. That is a separate category from the most common city prices reported by Ozon Media: in Sremska Mitrovica, carp most often sells for 800 dinars per kilogram, in Belgrade for 930, in Pancevo for 1,090, in Sabac for 850, and in Subotica and Smederevo for 700 dinars.

Kajmak, Serbia’s traditional clotted cream, also got pricier: its lowest recorded price rose to 1,150 dinars per kilogram.

Vegetables and fruit get cheaper

Tomatoes got cheaper. The highest price held at 200 dinars per kilogram, the going rate in Belgrade, while the lowest fell from 80 to 50 dinars in Leskovac. In Sremska Mitrovica, tomatoes most commonly sell for 150 dinars per kilogram, according to Ozon Media’s city by city breakdown.

Peppers followed a similar pattern: the highest price held at 250 dinars per kilogram in Kragujevac, while the lowest fell from 120 to 100 dinars. In Sremska Mitrovica, peppers cost 150 dinars per kilogram, the same as tomatoes.

Plums got cheaper almost everywhere except Sremska Mitrovica, where they remain the most expensive in the country at 130 dinars per kilogram. In Belgrade and Vranje they cost 100 dinars, in Novi Sad 99.99, in Sabac and Smederevo 80, in Valjevo 70, and in Leskovac 50 dinars per kilogram. Bananas also got cheaper, with the highest price falling from 240 to 200 dinars per kilogram.

Pears, like plums, are priciest in Sremska Mitrovica at 300 dinars per kilogram, while in Novi Sad they cost 259.99 dinars, in Belgrade 250, and in Kragujevac 239.99 dinars.

Meat: beef steak reaches up to 1,500 dinars

A kilogram of beef rib steak can be found in some cities for as little as 799 dinars, while the highest price, according to Informer, reaches nearly 1,500 dinars per kilogram. The lowest chicken price stands at 284.99 dinars per kilogram.

The price gap for the same product between cities runs as high as four times over: tomatoes sell for 50 dinars per kilogram in Leskovac and for 200 dinars in Belgrade. Srpske novine also reported in early September on rising pork prices, which climbed by as much as 15 percent to reach 920 dinars per kilogram.