Supplies of Ukrainian grain and oilseed crops to Hungary increased by 70 times last year. This was stated by the country’s Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy, who stressed that such a trend led to a sharp collapse in prices for raw materials on the local market, and Budapest supports the extension of the embargo on imports of sunflower seeds, rapeseed, wheat and corn of Ukrainian origin after September 15.
“While before the conflict imports [of grain and oilseeds] from Ukraine amounted to 40-50 thousand tons per year, a total of 3.5 million tons of grain and oilseeds came from there to Hungary in 2022, and in 2023, until imports stopped, an average of several hundred thousand tons per month,” the head of the Agriculture Ministry told the Világgazdaság weekly.
He also emphasized that a similar situation can be traced not only in Hungary but also in other countries that border Ukraine.
“This came as a shock to the markets, no one had a chance to prepare for it,” the minister said.
At the same time, the head of the agro-agency said that the costs of crop production in Hungary are rising, while the value of these products on the local market is decreasing.
“Prices for food and feed wheat on the domestic market are now half what they were a year ago. Feed barley prices have fallen even more, by 56% in one year. We have also seen a strong drop in oilseed prices: by 49% for sunflower and 46% for rapeseed,” Nagy said.
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