Drought-stricken crop prospects: tragic domestic corn and sunflower harvest in 2024

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 09. 06. 11:04

By the beginning of September, final estimates of this year’s Hungarian corn and sunflower harvest will be available, which were prepared by the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy (NAK) based on satellite and producer data. This year’s corn harvest is expected to be the third lowest in the last 15 years, with only 5.1 million tons, but this still covers domestic consumption needs quantitatively. A crop of 1.72 million tons is predicted for sunflower.

This summer’s drought scorched the entire South-Eastern European region, which significantly reduced crop yields. In the case of corn, a national average yield of 5.9 tons/hectare is expected on 874,000 hectares, while 2.54 tons/hectare is expected for sunflower on 680,000 hectares. The most drought damage was reported in the counties of Békés, Bács-Kiskun and Hajdú-Bihar, where the drought devastated significant areas.

There are large differences in crop yields in different parts of the country. In Csongrád-Csanád County, the lowest corn yield of only 4.1 tons/hectare is expected, while in Vas County, an exceptionally high average yield of 8.3 tons/hectare is expected. The sunflower harvest is already in an advanced state, and the corn harvest started weeks earlier than in previous years.

The drought caused significant damage not only in Hungary, but in the entire South-Eastern European region. A significant decline was also registered in Bulgaria and Romania: in Bulgaria, the yield of corn fell by 14 percent, and that of sunflower by 3 percent. In the EU as a whole, a corn yield of 7.03 tons/hectare and a sunflower yield of 2.04 tons/hectare were predicted by mid-August.