The 31st Agromash agricultural machine exhibition and trade fair opened on Wednesday in Budapest at the exhibition centre in Kőbánya. At the opening ceremony, Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas stated that the current exhibition is the largest ever held, with 200 exhibitors on over 32 thousand square metres.

The Minister stressed that although Hungary does not produce tractors, it is present on international markets with high quality and reasonably priced specialist agricultural machinery and production lines. He also reminded those present that the purchasing of agricultural machinery by Hungarian farmers is supported by a Hungarian Development Bank loan budget of HUF 25 billion.

Quoting the Ministry of Rural Development's Institute of Agricultural Engineering, the information booklet published for distribution at the opening ceremony states that the Hungarian agricultural machinery market was worth HUF 68 billion last year, and including the distribution of machine parts and equipment exceeded HUF 115 billion. This is equal to 33 percent growth compared to the previous year.

According to Minister Fazekas, global agricultural machinery turnover reached EUR 80 billion in 2011, with one-third of all machinery having been purchased within Europe. The value of the machinery sold increased by 20 percent in one year.

Visitors to the Agromash Expo also have the opportunity of viewing the Agricultural Machine Show, as well as the Hungarian Garden, the Viticulture and the Wine-Makers exhibitions.

11 companies were awarded prizes at this year's Expo. The special award for domestic product development was presented to Fertilia Ltd's fertilizer, while the award for international product development was won by the Bobcat fork-lift and one of Deutz-Fahr's tractors.

The exhibition may be viewed at the Hungexpo Exhibition Centre in Kőbánya until Saturday night.

(MTI)