Warehouse receipt finance in the agricultural sectors: Lessons learned in Serbia

Abstract

Aim of this paper is to analyse the role of warehouse receipts in the agribusiness sector, as well as prerequisites for successful public warehouses system. Warehouse receipt emerge as a promising financial instrument for farmers and other owners of agricultural products to provide loan against warehouse receipts. Warehouse receipts also offer alternative investment opportunities for banks by creating a new asset class. The paper analyses the experiences of the Serbia, which introduced the system of public warehouses in 2009. Applied research methodology includes literature review, comparation analyses and Indemnity fund' data analyses. According to the results of this paper, Serbian legal framework can be good example for other countries aiming to establish public warehouses system as a system consisting on all necessary prerequisite to establidh successful public warehouse system. After positive experiences in the initial years, the development of the public warehouse system in Serbia came to a standstill in 2015., when two frauds in the public warehouse system occurred, which led to a loss of confidence in public. An important lesson learned in Serbia is that in addition to complete legislation based on the experience of successful public warehouse systems, it is necessary to implement legal provisions in practice. According to the results of the paper, the main cause of the crash of public warehouses in Serbia is despite the legal provision on the establishment of a special inspection for public warehouses, this most important link has never been established in practice. Lessons learned in Serbia can be a useful experience for other countries, j the process of establishing this important system for agribusiness sector. This paper provides first comprehensive analyses of the public warehouse system in the Serbia.