Magazine: NAK wants joint market protection

In 2015 the Hungarian food industry’s performance improved by approximately 5 percent. However, this growth is mainly the result of the 10-percent export expansion, while due to the many cheap import products sales practically stalled in the domestic market, having only increased by 1 percent. This is the reason why the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) plans setting up an Italian-type system that would supervise import. At a press conference NAK vice president Tamás Éder told that between 2014 and 2020 the food industry will get HUF 300 billion for technological development, in order to increase the sector’s competitiveness on the international stage. The only problem is that medium-sized and large businesses – which are responsible for 80 percent of the food industry’s output – aren’t eligible for funding. The vice president added medium-sized businesses will get HUF 100 billion for technological development projects from the Economic Development and Innovation Operative Programme (GINOP).

Another NAK vice president Tibor Zászlós talked about the crisis of the dairy sector, caused by the EU’s ending of the milk quota system and Russia’s banning of food product import from the EU. The embargo alone resulted in a HUF 130-billion loss for Hungary’s agriculture sector. To make things worse, the milk and dairy product surplus of EU countries is now dumped on the Hungarian market at very low prices. NAK proposed measures to the government that could improve the situation of businesses in the dairy sector. These include the mandatory registration of wholesalers, reducing the food chain supervision fee and the chamber’s participation in the supervising process of dairy product import.