Magazine: Almost 700 square metres of Hungarian exhibition space at Grüne Woche

Between 15 and 24 January 2016 Berlin was the place where the world’s agri-food producers gathered: there were almost 1,700 exhibitors from 65 countries on 120,000m² at Grüne Woche, which attracted approximately 400,000 trade visitors. Hungary was present on 700m² with 40 exhibitors who represented 100 companies. Hungary put meat, wine and various spices in the limelight.

In addition to the products and services showcased, Grüne Woche also offered more than 300 economic and political events in its programme, including the 7th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. This year the main topic was feeding city dwellers and the situation of rural areas and agriculture in the age of urbanisation. According to a forecast, by 2050 about three quarters of the world’s population will live in cities. Hungary’s opinion is that people need to be fed with GMO-free food products all over the world – Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas stated at the summit. The minister also told that Hungary’s biggest agri-food export market is Germany. Last year we sold 7 percent more products in Germany than in 2014. Hungary’s annual food export to Germany represents a HUF 400-billion value.

Hungarian companies’ presence at Grüne Woche was organised by Hungarian Tourism Zrt. (MT) and Hungarian National Trading House Zrt. (MNKH). György Lipcsey, deputy CEO of MT Zrt. told that this year are going to invest more than HUF 400 million in promoting Hungarian agri-food products abroad. MNKH Zrt. plans use the Áldomás umbrella brand for marketing premium quality Hungarian groceries in both Hungary and abroad. Most of these products will be groceries made by small-scale producers and will bear a trademark that guarantees high quality and Hungarian origin.

At Grüne Woche Sándor Fazekas met Moroccan Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Aziz Ackhannouch. Talks revealed that Morocco is very much interested in Hungary’s experiences and knowledge in the domains of food safety, agricultural machinery production, water management technologies, research, development and innovation, irrigation projects, fruit and vegetable-related projects. In Asia Japan is Hungary’s most important agri-food trading partner.

Mr Fazekas also met Matsushima Hiromichi, Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Hungary’s main export products targeting Japan are wine and Mangalica meat – in 2015 we sold HUF 31 billion worth of the latter in Japan. Sándor Fazekas also held talks with Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Krzysztof Jurgiel. The two ministers agreed that animal feed also needs to be kept GMO-free.