Food supply is a national strategic issue

(Photo: AM/István Fekete)

According to István Nagy, the most important task of the Hungarian government is to give as many tools and help as possible to farmers, producers, and food industry enterprises so that they can adapt to the rapidly changing environment. The key to a competitive future is the cooperation of the government and farmers who want to do it, the result of which is that since 2010, Hungarian agriculture has been able to show the 5th largest efficiency improvement among all EU member states – said the minister. István Nagy pointed out that in the past decade, the profitability of Hungarian agriculture at the sectoral level has increased significantly, despite this, serious progress is needed in increasing the added value, which is still relatively low, he said. The portfolio manager said about Gyermelyi Zrt that the company group operates a completely closed vertical integration for the production of its products, which is also unique at the European level and means significant quantity and quality security for the products produced. He emphasized that there is unbroken development and security in those sectors where the integration is at the highest level, because where the integration is below 50 percent, the lack of predictability and security causes huge problems. István Nagy called it important for Hungarian agricultural actors that everyone finds their place and role in a successful integration. Integration is the key to the future of Hungarian agriculture, even the smallest producers need a sense of security, only producer cooperation protects Hungarian producers from the uncertainty of the market – he added. The minister also spoke about the fact that 64 food industry projects in the sector received support in the amount of 33 billion forints in the production of mill products and starch in the Rural Development Program.

Béla Tóth, the chairman of Gyermelyi Zrt.’s board of directors, emphasized that the success of a milling business requires a suitable grain storage

That is why they decided to invest; they received a HUF 1.5 billion state subsidy for the new silos built with HUF three billion. He noted that the silos with a capacity of 40,000 tons can store grain worth three billion forints. According to the press release, the grain storage system serves the increasing grinding capacity, the new system providing automatic storage, cleaning and ventilation significantly increases the grain storage capacity. Thanks to the investment, the company can store two-thirds of the wheat required for annual milling at its premises. The crop production sector, which forms the basis of Gyermelyi flour’s product trajectory, farms 8,100 hectares, while the mills operating at the central site fully supply the pasta factory, while the sale of flour on the domestic and neighboring countries’ markets continues to expand. The corporate group is also one of the largest egg producers in Hungary, producing 170 million eggs per year. In the last five years, the company group spent HUF 22 billion on investments, thanks to this and the expansion of the market, it was able to increase its number of employees, which currently exceeds 500. According to public company data, Gyermelyi Élélmiszeripari Zrt. realized a profit of HUF 2.9 billion in 2022 with net sales of HUF 46.6 billion, while in the previous year its sales revenue was HUF 27.1 billion and its profit after tax was more than HUF 1.2 billion .

MTI