Christmas fish won’t be more expensive this year either

Dr. István Németh, a member of the board of the Hungarian Aquaculture and Fisheries Professional Association (Mahal), told Agroinform.hu that although the weather posed a significant challenge to the sector until the end of the summer (due to the drought, for example, 15-20 percent of the Transdanubian dambeds could not be filled with water this year), the warm autumn was favorable for producers. “In the water with higher temperaturesthe carp fed for weeks longer than usual, so they grew larger, and a three-kilo specimen is a much more valuable ingredient in the kitchen than two one and a half-kilo ones,” the expert explained.

Fish will be present on the Christmas table of 80 percent of the population this year as well, thanks to which 35-40 percent of the annual domestic fish consumption is concentrated at Christmas. Hungarian fish farmers are able to cover domestic demand with both carp, catfish and busa. Fishing will continue in the coming weeks, so Christmas fish can be purchased from the first days of December – freezing for a few weeks does not impair the quality of the fish.

According to a survey conducted earlier among Agroinform.hu readers, 80 percent of families have fish on their Christmas table: at this time, 85 percent of fish consumers process carp, but 32 percent also buy catfish for the Christmas menu. African catfish is also popular at this time (13%), and busa and salmon (11-11%) are also in good demand. Fish soup is mainly made from fish – in 81 percent of cases – but fried fish is also very popular (65%). Grilled or broiled fish is eaten by 15 percent of families at Christmas.

There is still plenty of room for improvement in domestic fish consumption: the annual consumption of 6.5-7 kilograms per person is less than a third of the EU average. Moreover, only a quarter of this quantity is produced in domestic lakes, the rest being imported products from abroad, mostly from the seas. The increase in consumption can be expected from the strengthening of regular, mid-year fish consumption habits, which is particularly open to those under 40.

“Currently, nearly three-quarters of the approximately 26,000 hectares of water in Hungary would be used to produce carp. Both domestic needs and export opportunities necessitate reducing the dominant role of carp in favor of predatory fish (gray catfish, pike, pikeperch). All this assumes a gradual transition in the coming years, which is also hindered by climate change: in excessively warming lakes, there is less dissolved oxygen, but the oxygen requirement of pikeperch, for example, is four times greater than that of carp”

– explains Dr. István Németh.

At a competitive disadvantage in export markets

While in Hungary the level of compensation for ecological damage is 100 euros/hectare, in nearby countries (Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland) this support far exceeds the domestic level. This represents a very serious competitive disadvantage in export markets, which is why domestic sales are of great importance, especially during the Christmas peak season. Therefore, although feed, labor, and basic and fuel costs are increasing, fish farmers are forced to deliver at last year’s prices. The consequence of this is that the sector’s already low income-generating capacity, which has been around 4-5 percent, may decrease to 2-3 percent this year.