"Food exports have fallen over the past decades, but pork, poultry and fish have the required animal health certificates and we have now succeeded in regaining our market positions", said the Ministry of Rural Development's State Secretary for Food Chain Supervision and Agricultural Administration Endre Kardeván at the conference on the agricultural economy organised by Baki Agrocentrum Ltd. in Zalaegerszeg on Monday.

In addition to Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Russia, the Chinese market is now also open to Hungarian exports", said Endre Kardeván. In his speech, the Sate Secretary stressed that in its agriculture strategy, the Government gives priority to the production of raw materials and to food processing, with HUF 2.6 billion in funding available for increasing the number of pigs. "The primary goal is for Hungarian raw materials to be processed within the country. The supply of raw materials was in decline for many many years and their competitiveness decreased, and so there is now a need for improvement, which is made possible by the tenders of the Ignác Darányi Plan", Endre Kardeván stated.

At Monday's professional conference, enterprises received information on opportunities for financing, market prospects and projected changes in agriculture strategy.

According to Baki Agrocentrum Ltd. Managing Director Rudolf Balogh, the competitiveness of Hungarian agriculture is  is determined by the fact that while everything is fine with regard to crop production and animal husbandry, there are problems with processing and marked distribution. In his opinion, the cornerstones of agriculture strategy must be set down for the long term, for decades to come.

Baki Agrocentrum produces 400 thousand chickens each year, but as a result of high seed prices the cost of production is higher than the market sale price, and this is why funding is needed so that the level of animal husbandry doesn't drop further. The first half of this year will centre on survival: production must go ahead in a cost-effective and professional manner, and processing traders must show restraint, the Managing Director noted.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)