Hungary's food industry received over HUF 300 bn of EU funds since 2014

Portfolio
The food industry is regarded as a strategic sector therefore the size of European Union grants received in the current fiscal cycle since 2014 has already exceeded 300 billion forints, Agricultural Minister István Nagy told a meeting of commercial attachés in Budapest on Monday.
According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, the minister pointed out that Hungary’s annual food industry exports have been constantly over EUR 8 billion over the last three years. This was made possible by the significant improvement of Hungary’s agricultural productivity between 2010 and 2018, as a result of which the country caught up considerably with EU member states in the region.

Nagy said the share of agricultural exports within total exports reached 8.3% in 2018, and farming contributed with nearly EUR 2.9 bn to the almost EUR 5.6 billion foreign trade surplus of the country. Between 2010 and 2018, exports rose by 49%, imports grew by 57%, and the trade balance improved by 35%.

The minister noted that of the nearly 5,000 businesses registered in the food industry, about 1,000 carry out export activities. Revenues realised by export companies is now close to HUF 1,300 bn. More than 30% of food industry revenues are generated by exports and the ratio is rising.

Most non-domestic turnover is achieved in the meat sector, in animal fodder production and in vegetable and fruit processing

, said Nagy.

The minister underlined that Hungary applies the world’s strictest animal health and plant health standards created by the EU. He added that food industry products exported are free of diseases and are of excellent quality. Hungary supports only those export and import activities that take into consideration the sensitivity of the country’s agriculture and contribute to observing animal health and plant health regulations.

The minister highlighted that one of Hungary’s main economic potentials is the agriculture and the food industry. The country remains open to value-accretive investments that drive agriculture forward and help the countryside become competitive, he concluded.
This article is part of the work programme titled "The impacts of EU cohesion policy in Hungary - Present and Future" which is carried out by Net Média Zrt., the publisher of Portfolio.hu, between 1st April 2019 and 31st March 2020 with European Union financing. The views in this article solely reflect the opinions of the author. The European Commission as the funding entity does not take any responsibility for the use of information presented in this article.
 

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