Carrots and parsley root are also in demand on the domestic market

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Domestic farmers involved in carrot production had a good year last year. Carrots are an irrigated crop, and in addition, the most modern micro-irrigation technologies are already used in most of the production area, so they are less exposed to yield fluctuations due to soil and atmospheric drought. Since the foreign crop was also good, the price of carrots decreased compared to the previous year. According to the joint market overview of the National Chamber of Agriculture and the Hungarian Fruit and Vegetables Interprofessional Organization (FruitVeB), despite the favorable yield and quality, the limited storage capacity will cause serious headaches for producers in the 2024-2025 season. There is a great need to develop storage facilities, which is also supported by the fact that the tender announced within the framework of the CAP Strategic Plan received a significant oversubscription.

Carrots are a product that is constantly available in retail, and can be found on store shelves all year round

Domestic producers can serve domestic consumer needs from the early part of the season until the end, which means that carrots from Hungarian production are definitely available on the market from the end of May to February. After that, imports also arrive in the country. In addition to our traditional export markets, Austria and Romania, our exports to the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also expanded dynamically in recent years.

In our country, carrots are grown on a total of about 1,300-1,500 hectares

The amount of harvested crop has ranged between 50,000 and 70,000 tons in recent years. The largest carrot growing areas are located in Csongrád, Csanád and Pest counties. Although there is a need to expand production, the entry of new players is difficult. The primary reason for this is that carrot cultivation requires the use of special machinery from sowing to processing, which is why the capital requirement of production is very high.

In addition to the fresh market product, carrots are also a raw material for the processing industry

Manufacturers – similar to industrial tomatoes – have carrots produced as integrators. The processing industry primarily produces carrot juice from it, about 70 percent of which is sold on the domestic market and 30 percent is exported. Our largest export partner is Japan. Similar to carrots, the production of parsley root also requires special knowledge and experience. The germination and early development of carrots is very hectic, and it is also a water-intensive plant, and farmers have to irrigate the entire surface regularly. After the decreasing trend of recent years, a turnaround occurred in 2024 and the area under parsley root cultivation began to grow. The main reason for this is that the market has paid a very high price for the vegetable in the past few years, which has encouraged many producers, and unlike carrots, supermarket chains do not only take over products with impeccable appearance.

Parsley root is a special product throughout Europe

For example, due to the different gastronomic culture, parsley root is almost not consumed at all in Western Europe. Accordingly, our exports are mainly limited to neighboring countries. In terms of production, the importance of the Makó region has decreased in the last 10 years, but at the same time a new production area has been created in Békés County, but the Mórahalom and Szabadszállás regions have also strengthened. There is a noticeable decrease in the number of producers, but the quantity produced has not decreased, thanks to the application of higher-level technologies.

NAK