Let’s make Hungarian food products competitive!

At the end of November the Federation of Hungarian Food Industries (ÉFOSZ) organised an open roundtable discussion on the future of the Hungarian food industry. ÉFOSZ president Tamás Éder told that the Hungarian food sector isn’t competitive enough, it suffers from a lack of capital and it doesn’t help that 70-80 percent of Hungarian consumers don’t mind if good quality products come from abroad. The government should help food industry SMEs with non-refundable financial support for development purposes. Dr Lajos Bognár, deputy secretary of state from the Ministry of Agriculture stated that competitiveness requires improvement in knowledge management. Marcell Keleti, the food industry director of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) stressed that the funding scheme needs to be used in a targeted fashion. Journalist and blogger Anna Péter explained how credibility and information providing to consumers can improve the public opinion on Hungarian food products very much. Jolán Kubányi, president of the Hungarian Dietetic Association (MDOSZ) said the media is full of negative news about the food industry and this alienates consumers. Gábor Tompa, Nestlé Hungary’s external corporate relations director shared his view that the cooperation between food industry actors isn’t strong enough. Endre Csonka, the CEO of EPMS Rt. told that the average food company in the European Union employs 15 people and realises HUF 1.1-billion sales, while in Hungary the average food business has 18 employees and produces HUF 630-million turnover. ÉFOSZ launched its public health initiative ‘Together for consumers’ last year and the companies that joined since then represent 25 percent of the sector’s net sales.