There will be no shortage of Hungarian pork during the holiday season either

By: STA Date: 2022. 11. 22. 10:43

There will be no shortage of high-quality Hungarian pork during the festive season, and pig farmers can count on the support of the government even in the most difficult times – said the Deputy State Secretary responsible for the agricultural market of the Ministry of Agriculture (AM) on Tuesday in Budapest, at the press event of the Agrármarketing Centrum (AMC) pork consumption promotion campaign.

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to Tamás Tarpataki, due to the unusually rapid changes in the economic environment, subsidies for the pig sector must be maintained. Of course, these alone cannot offset the difficulties, so a stimulating legal environment and transitional measures to help liquidity are also needed. The loan moratorium, for example, facilitates the payment of a total of HUF 280 billion, and the repayment of variable interest rate loans by small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises is facilitated by the interest rate limitation, he added.

The president of the Hungarian Meat Industry Association believes that the Hungarian pork sector has had to adapt to extreme conditions for years

Even during the African swine fever, extraordinary 30-60 percent decreases and increases followed each other in the price of live pigs. This year there was an even bigger, 80 percent increase in price compared to January – added Tamás Éder, who believes that the war in Ukraine should first of all end in order to ease the difficulties. Due to the high production costs, the retail price of pork has increased by 20-40 percent in barely a year, and in recent months consumption has moderated somewhat, but traffic will probably pick up during the holiday season, as pork is one of the most popular dishes on the festive table in Hungary. – said the head of the interest representation.

The deputy managing director of AMC highlighted the importance of consumer awareness

According to Gergely Giczi, it will help producers a lot if customers give priority to their products, so in the coming weeks public, online, newspaper and radio advertisements will draw attention to Hungarian pork, and customers will be able to taste it free of charge in many shopping centers. The consumption promotion campaign has been successful so far, as since its beginning in 2013, the annual consumption per capita has increased from 23 kilograms to 33 kilograms in Hungary, he added.
MTI