Hungary's dairy industry in a critical situation

The European dairy sector is in a critical situation, requiring immediate and effective action by the EU, emphasised István Nagy, Hungary's Minister of Agriculture, on Monday in Brussels at the meeting of European Union ministers of agriculture and fisheries. He added that the long agenda of the meeting, which lasted into the night, was indicative of the difficulties facing European agriculture.

At Hungary's initiative, ministers will discuss two key issues, one of which is finding an urgent resolution to the crisis in the milk market. István Nagy recalled that Hungary had already raised this issue at the December meeting, but that the situation had deteriorated further since then. The purchase price of milk has fallen dramatically

from 53 cents to around 20 cents, which has caused serious problems for dairy farmers in many EU member states.

The Hungarian Minister of Agriculture has called for concrete measures. He said that a private storage system for cheese and butter should be launched immediately, and that support measures should be developed to help producers get through this critical period. "Dairy farmers are a vital part of the Hungarian agricultural sector, so we will fight for them," said István Nagy.

The minister recalled that, in December, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, had promised to examine the situation in detail. Market conditions have deteriorated further since then, which is why Hungary has raised the issue again. It is no coincidence that Italy has also initiated a separate agenda item to discuss the situation on the milk market — this clearly demonstrates the EU-wide scale of the problem.

Hungary is also working with its partners on other issues at the meeting. Together with Poland, Slovakia and Austria, it is taking joint action on the Mercosur agreement to protect the internal market. These four countries believe that a compensation fund should be set up to support sensitive sectors, providing assistance to farmers who are adversely affected by the agreement.

During the meeting, discussions will also be held with EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi regarding animal and plant health control systems. According to István Nagy, complete food safety can only be guaranteed if the European Union only permits the import of products produced under the same strict rules and conditions as those applicable to EU producers.

Cover image (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images