“Based on the harvest so far we can expect a larger and higher than average quality grain harvest”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas declared at a press conference on Friday at a wheat field belonging to the Debrecen University Agricultural Research Institute and Experimental Farm, just outside Karcag.
“The country’s bread grain, feed and seed supply is assured, and there will be plenty left for export”, Mr. Fazekas added. “Wheat has been harvested on some 50.000 hectares so far, with an average yield of 5.4 tons per hectare. 60 percent of the winter barley that has been sown of 236,000 hectares has been harvested; the harvest of good quality with an average yield of around 5 tons. Given suitable weather, all of this grain will have been stored within a few days”, the Minister said.
“The harvesting of rape and field peas is also ongoing, with production areas of 270,000 hectares and 14,000 hectares, respectively”, he added. “The production area for grain of bread-making quality is some 950,000 hectares this years, somewhat less than in previous years, primarily thanks to the increased production area used for oil crops”, he noted. “Thanks to the increase yield of winter wheat, the total production quantity has not changed significantly and is enough for all areas of use”, he added, indicating that GMO-free soy is also being produced on increasingly large areas of farmland in Hungary.
With regard to this year’s wheat export prospects the Minister said that around half of the total harvest is expected to be available for foreign export to the usual markets, primarily Southern European countries and Germany. “There is also significant demand from China, to which exports have also begun”, he said. “Prices are currently relatively low, but in view of the fact that various natural disasters have significantly reduced the harvest in several countries of the European Union, opportunities and prices for Hungarian bread-quality grain are expected to improve in future”, Mr. Fazekas noted.