"Hungarian agriculture is standing its ground against international competition and is capable of increasing investment and production", the Minister for Rural Development said in Budapest at the opening of the 32nd AGROmashEXPO agricultural machine fair in Budapest.
Mr Fazekas said that this message was reinforced by the record interest shown in the Expo. He stated that Hungarian agriculture is today again regarded as one of Europe's strong agricultures and there has been continuous growth during the past three years, resulting in increasing levels of machinery purchasing every year.
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The worlds' agriculture machine market is continuously expanding, with 6 percent growth forecast for this year. Trade in agricultural equipment and machinery in Hungary increased by 15 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, and the total spent on acquiring new machinery increased by 17 percent, meaning the sector is continuously expanding, the Minister said.
Mr. Fazekas quoted a study performed last year by the National Association of Agricultural Machine and Equipment Suppliers (MEGFOSZ), according to which sales of tractors reached two thousand last year and demand for high performance tractors is also in the rise.
The average age of the machinery and equipment used in agriculture in Hungary is 10-15 years, and increasing competitiveness requires modern machinery and a highly developed domestic agricultural machine industry, he stressed.
The Minister also spoke of the fact that some 85 percent of the products manufactured by the Hungarian agricultural machine industry are sold abroad and exports rose by 2 percent last year. Several new loan programmes have been launched to help farmers purchase new machinery, he added.
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The Ministry of Rural Development has contributed a total of 85 billion forints (almost 300 million euros) to modernising Hungarian agriculture, including 24 billion for purchasing horticultural machinery and equipment, 35 billion for the development of animal husbandry, 25 billion towards food industry development and 1.2 billion to fund wine industry equipment.
The reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was completed in December, and Hungarian interests were successfully represented at the negotiation, as a result of which the country will be receiving 20 more funding, HUF 500bn (EUR 1.9bn) extra each year over the following seven years, meaning it will be able to spend an additional 12.3 billion euros on rural development and funding agriculture until 2020.
(MTI)
