The Ministry of Agriculture has set a new goal for the Hungarian food industry

The domestic food industry must prepare for all situations (Photo: Pixabay)

According to the statement issued by the ministry on Thursday, the state secretary drew attention at the event to the fact that guaranteeing the security of food and energy supply remains one of the most important tasks of the government. Furthermore, if they want to maintain and even accelerate the growth of the food industry in recent years, then all areas of the sector must be made crisis-proof – he emphasized. According to the data so far, the total sales revenue of the sector exceeds HUF 4,000 billion, and the profit of the food industry has increased several times – explained Márton Nobilis.

Subsidies and innovations all serve this purpose

The state secretary informed the owners of around 150 companies using the Hungarian Product trademark that appeared at the professional conference that during the planning of the development directions, they consulted with industrial players and interest representatives in several rounds. When planning the 2021-2027 resource, the dual goal was to regain domestic markets and increase export capacity. During this period, the 80 percent domestic co-financing provided for European Union development funds gives Hungarian agriculture a chance for development on a historic scale. Márton Nobilis explained that, while in the 2014-2020 support period, more than HUF 468 billion was awarded to the sector from domestic and EU funds, the current period (2021-2027) plans to use even more funds. Only 750 billion forints were allocated from the Rural Development Program for food industry developments. The purpose of this is to encourage the production of products with a higher added value, for which demand on the foreign market is also higher, so innovation and development complexity are taken into account as priority aspects in calls for tenders, the state secretary added.

AM