Buying local products voluntarily

Following many months of negotiations, a code of ethics has been signed by the representatives of retailers, farmers and processing enterprises which will become effective on 1. July. According to this, 80 percent of products on retailers’ shelves shall be of Hungarian origin. However, it is still not clear who will benefit from this. If price is the number one consideration for the majority of consumers, then they will find cheap imported products no matter how well these are hidden. According to József Gráf, minister of agriculture, this unique code of ethics has been worked out with the objective of providing voluntarily accepted guidelines for all market players in the food sector regarding they way they should conduct business. As a result of negotiations lasting several months, business relations based on trust between market players have improved and the percentage of reliable quality, domestic products has increased in stores. He believes that such a code accepted on a voluntary basis is better for all concerned parties than a legislative answer to the disputed issues would have been.
Agricultural produce shall only be regarded as being of Hungarian origin if it has been produced in Hungary, by an enterprise registered in this country. Signatories of the code have also undertaken not to exceed a 30 day deadline for payments. In case a provision of the code is violated, this shall be sanctioned by publicising this fact. Signatories have also agreed to refrain from misleading advertising. Among multinational chains, members of the National Retail Association (OKSZ) have accepted the code. Lidl has not made a decision about the code yet, whereas Aldi has refrained from making any comments so far. Though it agrees with the objectives of the code, CBA has doubts regarding the ability of Hungarian suppliers to fill their 80 percent shelf quota.