Fish production in Hungary: the industry is struggling with a growing labor shortage

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 08. 10. 10:28

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Despite low feed prices and good water levels, the Hungarian fish production sector still faces many challenges. The main problems include low support, lack of development, declining consumption and chronic labor shortages. According to Ferenc Lévai, the spokesperson of the Hungarian Aquaculture and Fisheries Association (MA-HAL), the use of guest workers could be the solution to the labor shortage, but this has so far been less common for fish producers.

In an interview with the Agricultural Sector, Ferenc Lévai said that the conditions are basically favorable for fish production this year. Feed prices are low, and the water levels in the lakes are adequate, which provides a stable basis for fish production. According to the spokesperson, there used to be such an optimal state in fish production, when the appropriate water level of the lakes was already filled and the groundwater levels were also good. Lévai added that even in the event of a hot summer, most of the water can be retained.

Despite the favorable production conditions, fish producers are still struggling with a serious labor shortage. According to Ferenc Lévai, the number of manual workers in agriculture as a whole, including fish production, is decreasing. This problem is so serious that even several hundreds of hectares of lake farms cannot gather the minimum number of 5-6 workers from the surrounding area. According to the specialist, sooner or later they will have to get to the point of employing guest workers, since not all tasks in fishing can be solved by mechanization.