industrial outlook

Pančevo refinery-linked activity boosts March manufacturing, while Q1 weakness persists

Serbia’s early-2026 industrial data highlight the role of the Pančevo refinery in broader economic conditions. The refinery’s operational status is linked to industrial output, chemical supply chains, fuel logistics, inflation expectations and investor confidence. March data showed a faster improvement when refinery-linked operations normalise. The first-quarter figures indicate that the industrial base remains exposed when that normalisation is uncertain. In March, manufacturing output rose 8.4% year-on-year. Production of coke and refined petroleum products contributed 2.7 percentage points to that increase.…