The value of rail transport has increased for the domestic grain market

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The Secretary of State responsible for agriculture and rural development of the Ministry of Agriculture stated in his presentation to the audience of the conference: the war conflict has an impact on the food supply, since in peacetime both Ukraine and Russia supply the world market with approximately 50 million tons of grain and oilseeds. Therefore, it is of particular importance that, despite the war, the grain produced in Ukraine can reach the rest of the world, since the crops here play a key role in the food supply of North Africa and the Middle East. Last year’s crop of around 20 million tons was stuck in Ukraine due to the outbreak of the war, and this year, despite the war conditions, they expect a corn volume of more than 25 million tons. According to Ukrainian reports, 3 million tons of grain have been sold through the western borders, and 1.5 million tons have left the country through the sea corridor. In other words, a significant amount of grain is still waiting to somehow get out of Ukraine.

Zsolt Feldman called the EU action plan for Solidarity Corridors of special importance

This refers to the best possible use of the existing logistics infrastructure and equipment, the expansion of capacities where possible, and the increase in the number of routes that ensure the continuity of trade. In order to make more efficient use of the current domestic railway infrastructure, intensive discussions have taken place in recent months between various domestic state and market actors. The joint work is currently taking place at the domestic and European level, thanks to which the volume of goods arriving at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border has multiplied in the past few months. In recent months, an average of 120,000 tons of grain arrived by rail from Ukraine to Hungary, and in September this amount reached 179,000 tons, which includes transit goods and crops arriving on the domestic market. According to the state secretary, a decision was made to develop the railway infrastructure in the Záhony and Eperjeske regions.

Ukrainian grain makes up for crop losses due to drought

The market players of the domestic feed industry and livestock breeding, as well as the processing industry, are currently mainly using Ukrainian corn to make up for the shortage, which they cannot purchase on the domestic market due to the historic drought. Zsolt Feldman emphasized that Hungary was faced with an extremely difficult situation on the grain market, since we traditionally export 3-4 million tons of corn despite the increased demand for domestic consumption, but now the situation has temporarily reversed. The reason for this is that this year, at a harvest level of 40%, the corn harvest is expected to be around 3 million tons, compared to the 6-8 million tons of previous years. Hungary’s basic interest is that the amount of crops needed for our animal husbandry and processing industry is available during the current extraordinary period, at the same time, after overcoming the temporary difficulties on the grain market, our interest is that Ukrainian grain and oilseed exports leave the country entirely as transit goods, emphasized the Secretary of State.

AM