Starting this summer, domestic food industry entrepreneurs can apply for HUF 200 billion in non-refundable subsidies

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The state secretary explained: a total of HUF 415 billion in subsidies were awarded within the framework of the currently expiring Rural Development Program, of which more than HUF 184 billion have already been paid out for subsidized applications.The new payment system, KAP Strategic Plan II. within the framework of its pillar, 17 percent of the available economic development resources, HUF 480 billion, will be allocated to the development of food processing in the period up to 2027. “It is our undisclosed policy goal that, with the help of these subsidies, the value of food investments will rise to 1.8 billion euros by 2030, which is 117 percent higher than the 2020 level. In terms of exports, we have set a target of 15 billion euros per year by the same deadline – emphasized Zsolt Feldman, adding: – With the subsidies, we primarily want to strengthen enterprises that produce domestic food industry products with higher added value.” The calls for tenders that have just been published and are currently under social consultation are aimed at smaller and larger food industry enterprises separately: the non-refundable grant amount of the tender entitled “Complex development support for processing plants” can range from HUF 200 million to HUF 1.5 billion. In the “Support for the development of processing plants” application, this amount can be a maximum of HUF 200 million.

More favorable conditions

The state secretary highlighted that, based on previous experiences, the conditions were changed at many points. Among the evaluation criteria, in addition to financial soundness and sales security, export activity is valued. The basic intensity of the support is 50 percent, but with additional support intensities, including, for example, making the interest and guarantee costs related to the investment eligible, the intensity can reach the level of 65 percent (and in the case of the use of technologies aimed at the utilization of renewable energy, this ratio can be 70%). In the case of new tenders, the obligation to maintain the base number has also been abolished.

Expanding development opportunities

In contrast to the Rural Development Program, the tenders that have just been published will also provide an opportunity to develop plants that increase the value of agricultural products in other ways (this includes, for example, feed processing, honey packaging, wool processing, hemp processing, and fertilizer processing), but a biogas power plant can also be established within the new framework, whose production capacity exceeds the energy needs of the given place of consumption.

Timetable

Zsolt Feldman said that the first submission of support applications for smaller plants can be expected in the first half of the summer in June-July (here the available funds will be 50 billion forints), for support of the complex development of larger plants, according to the plans, in the second half of the summer may take place (here the amount of resources will be HUF 150 billion). The time available for the implementation of smaller projects is 24 months, in the case of complex development applications, the implementation deadline is 36 months, within the framework of which four interim payment requests can be submitted. The state secretary emphasized that in the case of both tenders in question, more time is provided for the applicants to prepare their tenders thoughtfully and at an appropriate professional level: instead of the usual 30 days, smaller actors can submit their applications within 60 days, and larger actors can submit their applications within 90 days.