Last year’s results were evaluated by FÉSZ members at a professional conference

From left to right: Dr. Pál Nobilis Márton, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Dr. Olga Beáta Felkai, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture (Photo: AM/István Fekete)

The Hungarian food industry can only develop if we listen to all its actors and have continuous dialogues with them – stated Dr. Márton Nobilis, the State Secretary responsible for the food industry and trade policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, at the conference organized by the Association of Responsible Food Manufacturers on Wednesday in Budapest. The government is committed to the further development of the Hungarian food industry and the support of investments in the food industry, as the current war times prove, they are greatly needed to provide for Hungarian families, for economic growth and to protect jobs. Dr. Márton Nobilis explained that as a result of the war and the Brussels sanctions, food inflation was the most significant, so in order to promote the reduction, the government first introduced a food price freeze to protect Hungarian families, and now, based on international examples, the introduction of mandatory promotions in stores decided Thus, by defining the 20 product ranges, there will always be a consumer basket in which the most consumed foods are included at a more favorable price. The state secretary said that after the inflation peak in December, the decline started and that the only and most important goal of all introduced measures is to reduce inflation further in the near future by reducing prices and increasing competition. He pointed out that the government supported the Hungarian food industry with 468 billion forints during the previous European Union development period, between 2014 and 2020, and allocated 750 billion forints for this purpose in the current cycle between 2021 and 2027.

Dirk Jacobs, executive director of the Confederation of European Food Processors (FoodDrinkEurope), also gave a presentation at the event.

According to the specialist, the sectoral advocacy organizations should pay special attention to monitoring changes in EU food regulation in the coming years in order to help their members and food companies in preserving and strengthening their competitiveness. These legislative changes will primarily serve to make European food systems more sustainable, and will present new requirements and challenges to the sector’s businesses in several areas.

According to the president of FÉSZ, difficult times await food industry enterprises

Tamás Éder, the re-elected president of the Association of Responsible Food Producers (FÉSZ), highlighted in his presentation that during the process of food price increases experienced in recent months, the prices of crops and other agricultural products used as raw materials for processors increased even more than what the manufacturers were able to validate in their transfer prices. He also added that many difficulties will await the food industry enterprises with extremely low profitability in the near future, “only” one element of which is the decrease in sales volumes that has been observed for months. For this reason, FÉSZ continues to consider the protection of the competitiveness of the sector and within it the competitiveness of the members of the Association, the formulation of professional proposals aimed at improving it and their representation to decision-makers.

The professional conference ended with a round table discussion, in which Dirk Jacobs and Éder Tamás, along with dr. Beáta Olga Felkai, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, participated

Dr. Beáta Olga Felkai, the Deputy Secretary of State responsible for food chain supervision at the Ministry of Agriculture, emphasized at the round table discussion that the field is already fully preparing for Hungary’s presidency of the EU, which will take place in the second half of 2024. The deputy state secretary drew attention to the fact that we have many tasks and responsibilities in finding opportunities for cooperation. Market needs must also be taken into account when developing regulations, and continuous communication is not enough for this either. However, development also requires conscious consumers – he concluded with this.

From left to right: Tamás Éder, re-elected president of the Association of Responsible Food Producers (FÉSZ), Dirk Jacobs, executive director of the Confederation of European Food Processors (FoodDrinkEurope), Dr. Beáta Olga Felkai, deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture (Photo: AM/István Fekete)

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