Hungary: Sweet potato, the promising crop with an untapped potential

The untapped potential of sweet potato farming in Hungary

Agrárszektor.hu has recently published a report on the state of sweet potato farming in the country. Sweet potatoes are becoming increasingly popular in Hungary, but the domestic supply cannot meet the demand. The portal interviewed a young grower about the market imbalance and the challenges faced by farmers.

In Hungary, sweet potatoes are grown only over a few hundred hectares, and there are very few large-scale, industrial-level producers. Aside from a short-lived spike in the Nyírség region of the Great Plains in the North-East, the small number of producers is declining, especially the middle-sized growers.

The farmer, Dávid Márkus, told the portal about the challenges, “It’s not easy—in fact, it’s particularly difficult—to grow [sweet potatoes], despite the crop being a resilient plant. While it’s true that it doesn’t dry out or die easily, just because something survives doesn’t mean it will produce well.”

The young farmer stated to the portal that the amount of irrigation a farmer can use plays a significant role in production, especially considering the phenomenon of the so-called “atmospheric drought.” According to Mr. Márkus, billions of forints are allocated to agriculture, but “not everyone benefits from the subsidies.” However, producers are in great need of support, as there is a real demand for sweet potatoes among Hungarians, and imports fill the need, the article adds. “ Unfortunately, small producers do not receive adequate support, and many are dropping out,” the farmer further commented.

The demand is high however. The expert stated that therew was a year when they managed to produce about 55 tons of sweet potatoes, and all of it sold.

Another issue is sustainability. Mr. Márkus mentioned that, for example, they use biodegradable films in the their polytunnel greenhouses. While this is a good practice, it costs about six times more than regular film. Additionally, achieving zero waste often requires extra work; they put in a lot of effort, but they “believe it’s worth it, and will remain committed to it.”

Soy might be the sleeper hit of Hungarian agriculture

Agrárágazat.hu reports that this year, Hungary might finish the harvest as one of the top 3 soy producers in the EU, although the country is neck and neck with Romania.

The shock of the catastrophic 2022 drought has prompted the search for new crops in recent years. This year, the area dedicated to soy in Hungary has nearly doubled, increasing from the annual 60-70 thousand hectares to 112 thousand hectares.

However, due to the hot drought reminiscent of the summer of 2022, the average yield is expected to be lower.After the first 60-70 thousand tons were harvested, the national mean yield was projected to fall somewhere between 2.3-2.4 tons per hectare. This means Hungary will produce roughly 260 thousand tons of soy in 2024.

This season, the EU saw a 10% increase in planted area and an anticipated 5-10% rise in production volume. Europe typically produces 3-4 million tons of soy, but this year, 5.5-6 million tons are expected on the continent. Ukrainian yields are also expected to be higher, the portal adds. Together, these will amount to around 10 million tons. However, the EU's soybean usage is 35 million tons, meaning there will be a demand for Hungarian soy.

Rains continue refilling soils, vegetation bouncing back – But it’s all late for corn

The fall rains in Hungary continue. In October, according to HungaroMet's analysis, the fall replenishment of soil moisture has begun, with the water reaching the deeper layers of the ground. Across the country, the topsoil has become saturated, ideal for planting fall cereals. In the first five days of the month, 15-35 mm of rain fell, with some areas receiving as much as 40-50 mm.

European forecasts predict that Hungary will experience warmer-than-usual weather in the coming months, with meteoerologists expecting temperatures to be 1 to 1.5°C above average starting in October.

The rains arrived in September after the extended heat wave and drought of the summer. The abundant rainfall in the second week of September, however, arrived late for cornc rops. instead of helping, it harmed the crops and, throughout the month, rain repeatedly hindered the harvest.

The latest NDVI satellite imaging vegetation index maps from the second half of September indicated that the significant rainfall led to an increase in green biomass in natural vegetation in many areas, with meadows and pastures showing notable regrowth. After the extremely hot and drought-stricken summer, the anomaly map still shows a shortfall in green biomass compared to usual levels for this time of year. However, the size of areas with positive anomalies has significantly increased due to the rainy weather.

Retail trade, especially food, increases – but the growth is uneven

The news portal G7.hu has reported on the state of retail trade in Hungary based on August macroeconomic data, and the trends suggest that consumption has increased in a year. This is important for the national economy since low household spending hampered economic growth last year.

In August, Hungarian shoppers spent €175 million more than they did a year earlier, spending a total of HUF €4.17 billion. This means that retail sales in August increased by 0.8% in a month and by 3.2% over the year. Sales in grocery-style mixed stores (selling food items) saw the biggest increase, rising by nearly 9%, with noticeable increases in demand for medicines and cosmetics as well. On the other hand, fewer books, clothes, and fuel were sold than in the previous year.

The increases were uneven however, with much higher growth measured in the country’s north-eastern and eastern parts. Győr-Moson-Sopron County, in the west, recorded only a modest 0.2% growth, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the north-east, saw a much sharper incline of nearly 6%.

There are various possible reasons for this. The recent increase of minimum wage probably had a larger effect onthe populace of ower-income regions.

Another possibl eissue is that a steadily increasing number of Hungarian consumers opt for shopping tourism, going over the border to Slovakia or Austria to shop for groceries due to the high level of grocery prices in Hungary. This could have made a considerable dent in the retail industry’s sales growth in West Hungary, in the regions closest to Austria and Slovakia.