National Council of Mountain Villages: raising the transfer prices of wines is essential

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The HNT put it this way: winemaking is perhaps the only agricultural sector that has barely been able to validate the increase in production costs in its transfer prices in recent years, which has also worsened the efficiency of grape growers and winemakers. The significant increase in cultivation and production costs could not be fully compensated by the increase in the purchase price of wine grapes in all wine regions, because the amount of the crop in most wine regions was below the average of previous years. The reduction reaches 30-35 percent in some places – they indicated. According to the organization, it is not possible to reduce producer costs in the current situation, so it is clearly necessary to enforce all cost increases in the commercial transfer prices. The costs associated with the new EU waste management rules are no exception.

Much depends on the government’s promise

HNT added: they trust the previous promise that the new waste management rules cannot result in higher costs for wineries than the previous environmental protection product fee. Since the commercial price negotiations will begin in the coming weeks, in order to accurately assess the profitability of the sector, it is necessary to learn the details of the amendment to the waste management rules as soon as possible – they wrote in the announcement. If the wineries are unable to incorporate their increased costs into their prices, it is expected that they will not be able to raise purchase prices for the next vintage. Grape production is also less profitable than wine production, especially in areas that are difficult to cultivate or in the case of varieties that require special cultivation. Their disappearance may increase the economy in the sector, but in the longer term it would lead to the loss of the diversity and uniqueness of Hungarian wine production and would significantly reduce the touristic value of the Hungarian countryside – emphasized the HNT. The grape and wine sector means the livelihood of 30,000-35,000 Hungarian rural families, the organization said.

MTI