Dynamic Growth in Agricultural Exports Continues

The measures and developments taken to renew Hungary’s agriculture and food industry have been successful, and agricultural exports exceeded last year’s level by 6.4 percent in the first half of the year, said Minister of Agriculture István Nagy.

The minister recalled that the government sees agriculture as a strategic sector. “That is why Hungary is the only one in the European Union to have secured a maximum of 80 percent national co-financing for EU funds. This tripled the amount of aid available for rural development,” he said.

He added that

the biggest development program for agriculture and food since post-communist regime (1989) has been implemented from 2021 onward with this aim.

In the past three years,

• HUF 400 billion (EUR 980 million / EUR 1 = HUF 407.9) have been spent on the development of livestock farms,
• more than HUF 100 billion on the modernization of horticultural farms,
• almost HUF 230 billion on expanding food production capacity
• and HUF 180 billion on the transition of agriculture to precision farming.

“It is vital that even the smallest farmers can take a step forward. The small farm development competition was designed to help them. It has helped them to receive more than HUF 55 billion,” added the minister.

István Nagy said that the development funds earmarked for agriculture were already showing results.

In the first seven months of this year, agricultural exports reached EUR 8.17 billion, up EUR 494 million, or 6.4 percent, from a year earlier.

This trend is also in line with the 7 percent increase in export sales of the food industry over the same period.

Hungary’s top five export markets were Germany, Italy, Romania, Austria and Poland, with a combined share of more than 54 percent of agricultural exports.

The minister also pointed to a positive change in the structure of exports, with the share of processed products increasing from 62 percent to 74.2 percent by 2023, while the share of raw material exports fell to 25.8 percent. According to him, these figures also show that the national economy cannot grow without a strong agricultural sector. “Thanks to the comprehensive renewal of agriculture and the food industry, the competitiveness of farmers and the country as a whole can be further enhanced,” the minister stressed.

Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay