Krisztina Bodnár, a business development manager at GfK, has recently published an article about their latest study on the nutritional habits of Hungarians on the portal TradeMagazin.hu.
According to the study, awareness has been on the rise in recent years, but now, due to inflation, prices are the determining factor. Slightly over one-third of households are indifferent to the health aspect of their groceries, which marks a 5 percentage point increase since 2021.
There is also a decrease in the number of people who "make an effort to consume seasonal vegetables and fruits" and a significant drop in the percentage of those who "frequently buy fresh products instead of canned or frozen items" since 2021.
Inflation also affects vegetable consumption
Farmers’ Collective, DélKerTÉSZ, which has 500 horticultural producer members has recently reported on the sales figure changes they observed in consumption in the past year. According to the farmers, due to inflation, consumers are opting for sales promotion vegetable items, purchasing less and less at regular prices. According to the collective, there is a “psychological threshold” in profitability when reducing sales prices, “until production becomes unviable.” This is particularly true for horticultural production which involves heated greenhouses. Members of the collective have sold 56 thousand tons of vegetables in the first 9 months of the year. Out of this, 25 thousand tons were fresh produce and 31 thousand tons were industrial crops.
Potato farming continues to decline
Based on the latest sectoral report by the Institute of Agricultural Economics (AKI), Hungary’s total potato yield further decreased in 2023. In 2022, the country’s total potato harvest had decreased by 17% y-o-y, to 199.2 thousand tons, in 2023, the total yield was 161.5 thousand tons, while the total farming area was 5,83 thousand hectares.
The portal Agrárszektor.hu also reported on the issue. According to the agriculture news portal, the reasons for the country’s declining potato sector are economical: High labor costs, issues with irrigation, a lack of effective plant protection agents, and unpredictable demand on the market which makes the farming of seed potatoes hard.
The import of potatoes also fell however, in January-August 2023, the amount of imported potatoes decreased by 13%, to 38,2 thousand tons. France remains the largest trade partner, even with a 22% decrease, with an export of 21,2 thousand tons to the Hungarian market. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter to the market in Hungary, with 5,55 thousand tons in 2023, which is 18% lower than previously. Hungary’s potato export also fell, by 28%, to 2,73 thousand tons. The price of potatoes went up in Hungary in 2023. In Week 45, the price of potatoes on the Budapest Commodity Market was €1.85 per kilogram, which is a 45% increase y-o-y.
Source: www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl