Hungary: The new era of the watermelon

Hungary performing well in watermelon farming this year

Agrárszektor.hu reported in late June from a harvest-opening press conference held jointly by the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK), the Hungarian Fruit and Vegetable Producers’ Alliance (FruitVeB) and the Hungarian Melon Farmers Association (MDE). The alliances told the press that farmers are expecting a good quality harvest, and that there has been progress made in the areas of production technologies and breed variety.

In the past years, watermelon production has changed in the country. After decades, years of development saw the production area cut in half but production volume remain at the same levels due to the introduction of novel farming technologies. Hungarian watermelon farmers however, have been on their back legs on foreign markets as they have continuously lost position to farmers from Mediterranean countries, primarily, Greece, Italy and Spain. Due to this, domestic producers’ alliances have put effort into studying melon farming in these countries, which also led to less shrinking in the production area in the past few years.

As a part of this reform process, old and obsolete varieties have been replaced with grafted and hybrid varieties. Greenhouse production (in polytunnel) has also appeared in the Hungarian melon farming sector. Currently, 2 to 3% of the watermelon crops and 20% of cantaloupes are produced under polytunnel. Agrárszektor.hu concludes that production is now more efficient on Hungarian watermelon farms and the new varieties are also more disease resistant.

Hungarians consume on average 10 kg of watermelon per capita annually, cantaloupe consumption is 1.5-2 kg and increasing. Other press sources later this week reported that this season, the total harvest in Hungary is expected to be 125-130 thousand tons for watermelon and 10-12 thousand tons for canteloupe.

Sharp decline in potato production, vegetable farming in a tough spot

Trademagazin.hu reports that Hungary’s potato export in Q1, 2023 has decreased by 68.7% y-o-y, to 556 tons. The average consumer price also increased by three and a half times, import still outweighs exports. The potato import is currently worth €16.8 million annually. However, export revenue increased by 14.5%. Most of the imported potatoes came from France, but considerable amounts also came from the Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia.

According to a new report, the value of vegetable exports increased by 14.9%, while the value of imports grew by 20.2% by Q1, 2023. As a result, the trade deficit in vegetable exports reached €57.4 million in the first three months of 2023.

Hungary is generally a net importer of fresh vegetables during the early months of the year, while there is significant export of frozen and dried vegetables.

Food price spike expected

Agriculture economist György Raskó has commented on the repealing of the food price caps that in certain categories, including sunflower oil, pork, and chicken breast, prices might increase by one-third. The expert also believes that wholesale prices will be much higher than the price levels previously frozen by the price cap policy.

Trademagazin.hu comments that while president of the central bank György Matolcsy has criticized the price cap policy, which in his view leads to inflation and losses, the government „denies the increase in inflation,” although the price cap policy will still be repealed.

The news portal Bankmonitor.hu reports that inflation in June was 20.1%, which is lower than the 21.5% inflation in May but still „by far the highest among the 27 EU member states.”

Viticulture sector experts foresee increased costs due to EPR regulation

Agrárszektor.hu reported on Wednesday that due to the extended producer responsibility system (EPR) which entered into force on July 1, 2023, and governs garbage and waste management, “there will be a huge burden on the food industry”. The news portal reports that the domestic industry will have to pay €317.4 million in total annually to the MOHU Waste Management Ltd., a subsidiary of the Mol group, which won the public tender for the role of managing waste. The rationale behind the new policy is to incentivize producers to reduce waste and increase the share of reused materials in packaging, as well as the use of environmentally friendly materials.

The article reports that producers will likely pass on these costs, further increasing consumer prices. Dávid Brazsil, secretary-general of the National Council of Wine Communities (HNT), the association representing Hungarian wine producers, commented that the regulation change will increase production costs, and also the administrative burden on companies. Mr. Brazsil also commented that one of the major challenges is the short time window companies had to prepare for the regulation change and that in other wine countries, the regulation is more favorable for producers.

Climate damages catastrophic for apricot farming

According to the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) and the FruitVeB alliance of domestic fruit and vegetable producers, weather damages have massively devastated apricot production in Hungary. Cold snaps in the spring and especially during the flowering period of apricot trees, as well as temperature fluctuations have destroyed 75% of the harvest. The organizations warn that due to the progression of climate change, the reorganization of Hungarian fruit production, especially the farming of early-flowering fruit trees, is paramount.

Apricot, which is normally harvested in the early summer, is particularly popular in Hungary, not just among consumers but also in the processing industry. Apricot farming accounts for 5 thousand hectares in total in the country, however, the harvest has been highly volatile in the past years, ranging between 5 thousand 35 thousand tons per season. The reason for this is that apricot trees are crops with a warm climate preference, and although Hungary’s average temperatures have been rising in the past years, ongoing climate change has led to unpredictable, chaotic weather patterns in the spring and fall, including frequent cold snaps in the spring with freezing subzero temperatures which have for years ravaged fruit orchards.