Agricultural performance in 1999 fell behind that of the previous year. Less cereals were harvested, and fruits apple crops were somewhat weaker. Although experts consider this year’s wine the best vintage of the decade, its quantity fell behind the planned amount. Among others, hog raising and poultry-farming met with marketing difficulties. Agricultural and food industry export sales were almost 20 percent less than last year and the agricultural foreign trade balance decreased by a similar rate. The export share of EU countries is on the rise. As for agricultural production, prospects are more promising for the year 2000. The fall fitting, sowing and trenching of the land went well. The sown area of the most important cereol, winter wheat, is 1 million 80 thousand hectares, more than 300 thousand hectares more than before. Public consumption of animal produce may increase, and the various branches may react flexibly to favorable external sales opportunities.
Next year, production is likely to increase by 5-6 percent. Current low food prices can no longer be kept up in 2000. Prices might start to go up already at the beginning of the year, exerting an adverse effect on inflation. According to certain calculations the prices of foodstuffs and luxury items may go up as much as 10 percent, in certain cases even more.
At the present Hungarian agriculture utilizes only 60-65 percent of its production potential and its level does not reach even half of its rivals. There are several reasons for this apart from lagging behind technically – ranging from the loss of Eastern markets to bad management structures. Tools of production are outdated and, more often than not, there is no money for re-equipment and replacements. The sector would have needed 550-650 billion HUF of investment in the 1990s which it never received. –
BIHARI VILMOS, a Pick Szeged Rt. vezérigazgatója: “Nagyon fontos az exportfeltételek kiszámíthatósága. Sajnos a hosszabb távú tervezést a gyakori szubvencióváltoztatás negatívan befolyásolta. A nyáron bevezetett sertésfelvásárlási minimálár nem igazán piackonform beavatkozás, ráadásul a termékpálya egy pontját érinti, így ez is okozott piaci zavarokat. A hústermékek árnövekedése az elmúlt évtizedben messze az infláció alatt maradt – az idén pedig csökkent is az ár -, a húsfogyasztás mégsem nőtt jelentősen. A közép- és kelet-európai országok esetében sajnos erősödik az agrárprotekcionizmus.”
