Hungary could have a role in opening land routes to exporting cereals from war-torn Ukraine, key to “easing the panic, especially in north African countries … where worries are rising over wheat supplies,” Agriculture Minister István Nagy told business daily Világgazdaság.
“The question whether the more than 20 million tonnes of cereals currently stuck in Ukraine can be brought out is a key issue for the world market. The ports are closed, and the Romanian side is so overwhelmed that ships often have to wait for weeks. A land route must be opened and Hungary must play a role in it,” Nagy said in an interview published on Friday. Since food makes up 89% of trade in Hungary, the agriculture ministry is also overseeing that sector in the fifth Orbán government, Nagy noted. “The process from farm to fork is fully under our purview now,” he added. Nagy said the government’s decision to support EU funding going towards rural development with 80% from domestic resources, a “historic” raise of national funding, was helping the sector to weather “challenging circumstances” and enabled it to catch up with European competitors. The developments will support Hungarian processing plants to enable the Hungarian market to supply multinational chains from the domestic market, he said. Food industry development will receive 750 billion forints (EUR 2.0bn) from rural development funding, he said.
hungarymatters.hu
pixabay
