Further controls of the sugar industry privatization

The National Sugar Beet Growers Association (CTOSZ) is convinced that
the privatization of Hungary's sugar industry was not entirely well thought out. Most professional investors brought their money to Hungary to get market share, he added.

Hungary used to have twelve operating sugar refineries, but all but one — the Kaposvar sugar refinery, owned by Magyar Cukor, a unit of Austria's Agrana — were shut down after the EU slashed sugar price subsidies and offered farmers and refineries incentives to get out of the business starting in 2006.

Today sugar beet is grown on just 13,000 hectares in Hungary, down from 64,000 when the country joined the EU in 2004.