According to the KSH, agricultural producer prices increased by 40 percent in the first half of the year

There is no food that has not gone up in price (Photo: Pixabay)

Input prices rose even more than producer prices, by 41 percent, so the value of agricultural shears was 99.8 percent. The drastic price increase in the past period was caused by a combination of several factors. The supply and demand-supply disturbances caused by the Covid-19 epidemic have not completely disappeared, and energy prices have also risen in parallel with the restart of the economy. According to the calculations of the World Bank, energy serving as an input has become more expensive globally by an average of 82 percent in one year, mainly due to the drastic price increase of crude oil and natural gas, and fertilizer has gone up by 85 percent. The KSH indicated that problems within the sector, primarily animal health problems, also increased the price increase

War and drought also made the situation difficult

The Russian-Ukrainian war brought food and energy supplies and general uncertainty to the world market. The weather was also unfavorable in the first half of the year in Hungary. The spring frost, followed by a week of rain during the ripening of cherries and strawberries, and since then the national drought worsened the situation. Other European countries are also affected by the drought, the EU’s wheat harvest is expected to be only slightly below the previous year’s amount, but the total corn harvest may be a quarter behind that of 2021. Based on the report of the European Commission, in June 2022, compared to a year earlier, the price of wheat in the EU increased by more than four-fifths on average, corn rose by a quarter, beef and poultry for slaughter also cost a quarter more, while pork, on the other hand, rose in price to a lesser extent.