DélKerTÉSZ: A record amount of Hungarian vegetables entered the store chains

DélKerTÉSZ, which brings together nearly 500 vegetable producers in Szentes, ends this season with decreasing producer prices, but the volume sold to domestic grocery stores has broken all records so far, according to the cooperative’s summary.

“The members of the cooperative, which mainly grow tomatoes and peppers, sold more than 35,000 tons of vegetables in the first eight months of 2024, which means a decrease of 6.5 percent, 2.5 thousand tons, compared to a year earlier. More than 20,000 tons of so-called fresh market products – peppers and tomatoes – were sold. By the way, 50 percent of the fresh market products were peppers, 46 percent tomatoes, and the rest, among others, cucumbers or cabbages. The sales revenue from the sale of fruit and vegetables reached almost HUF 14 billion in the first eight months of the year, which represents a decrease of HUF 2 billion on an annual basis. The decrease in quantity was caused, on the one hand, by the extremely hot weather in July and August affecting fresh market products, as well as by the decrease in the quantity of quality peppers caused by a virus that flared up as a result of pest pressure. In terms of green peas and sweet corn for field industrial purposes, it was caused by the processors’ drastically reduced contracted quantities. In addition to volumes, the decrease in sales revenue was mainly caused by the decrease in unit sales prices.”

said Sándor Nagypéter, president of DélKerTÉSZ.