“This year, Hungarian agriculture and food industry exports to Germany could exceed even last year’s record level”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said on Tuesday at a press conference in Budapest.

“Last year, the value of Hungarian agriculture and food industry exports to Germany reached 1.222 billion euros, which is a record and represented an increase of 8 percent compared to the previous year”, Mr. Fazekas said.

“This dynamic growth continued during the first four months of 2016, based on which German export revenues are expected to reach 1.3 billion euros this year”, the Minister said. “This, however, requires the marketing of more products than last year in view of the fact that prices have fallen”, he noted.

“In addition to excellent political relations, Hungary’s trade relations with Germany are also excellent. This is one reason why it is a great distinction for Hungary to have been invited to be the guest of honour at Berlin’s International Green Week in January 2017. The expo is Europe’s largest agriculture and food industry fair and one of the most important in the world, and enables high quality Hungarian food industry products to be showcased to some 400 thousand visitors”, Mr. Fazekas explained.

“The fact that Hungary has been given the opportunity to present itself at the event is a testimony to the excellent performance of Hungary’s agricultural economy and Hungarian farmers in recent years. Agriculture and the food industry is one of Hungary most successful sectors, as proven by the high level of food industry exports – some 8 billion euros-a-year”, the Minister of Agriculture said.

“The Hungarian motto for this year’s International Green Week Berlin is: ‘From a Pure Source’, because Hungary practices tradition, nature-based food production and is striving to keep its product GMO-free. This is also included in the country’s Constitution, ensuring that Hungary’s food economy is based on quality food production”, he told the press.

“The country’s most important export products are poultry meat, processed and unprocessed fruits and vegetables such as peppers, apricots, watermelon, sour cherries, various canning industry products, well-known Hungarian sausages and salamis, or GMO-free Hungarian honey, for instance”, Mr. Fazekas said.

“In addition, incredibly, Hungary even exports beer to Germany, including craft beers”, he said, adding that “Hungarian wines are becoming increasingly popular in Germany; German experts agree that this is the sector that has seen the highest level of development in Hungary”.

Managing Director of Agricultural Marketing Centre Ltd (AMC) György Lipcsey told reporters: “Hungarian enterprises are being given a whole pavilion, some 1600 square metres of floor space, to showcase their products in Berlin”. “560 million forints will be spent on organising the Hungarian exhibition”, he added.

(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)