“The government of Hungary regards all enterprises that are realising development and investment projects now, in the interests of preserving their workplaces and creating new ones, as allies”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Pannon Vegetable Oil Production Limited’s new vegetable oil refinery plant in the Bács-Kiskun County town of Foktő on Monday. The new plant is being realised with an investment of over 22 billion forints (EUR 61 million) and 1.8 billion forints (EUR 5 million) in state funding.

“The Hungarian economy will not be successful again from international loans that lead to vulnerability and defencelessness, but thanks to the work of the Hungarian people”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. “This is precisely why the government is doing everything possible in the interests of protecting the health of the Hungarian people and to stop the coronavirus and the epidemic from being brought into the country, but also in the interests of protecting existing jobs and creating new workplaces. The government would like to support the fight against unemployment, and every single new investment is a new station in this process”, he added.

“Agriculture and the food industry must be handled as a more strategic and important sector than previously”, Mr. Szijjártó declared. “Because the food industry is one of few sectors that was able to maintain its rate of growth during the first two quarters of this year: last year, the sector’s production value increased by 10 percent to over 3500 billion forints (EUR 9.7 billion), and during the very difficult first half of this year it was also capable of producing further growth of 10 percent”, he explained. “The sector provides work to some 140 thousand people”, he added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said Hungary is among the world’s ten “most open countries”, with an export to GPD ratio of 86.5 percent, meaning that “the performance of exports can fundamentally determine the performance of the whole of the economy”. The Minister said the latest investment on the part of Glencore is an important milestone in economic cooperation between the United Kingdom and Hungary, in view of the fact that enterprises from the UK form the seventh largest investor community in Hungary today, and the United Kingdom is Hungary’s twelfth most important trade partner”, Mr. Szijjártó explained.

At the foundation stone laying ceremony, Managing Director of the Hungarian subsidiary of the Glencore Agriculture Group Csaba Juhász told the press that the company group’s Hungarian division has spent a total of 260 million U.S. dollars on investment projects since 1996. The company’s plant in Foktő, which was realised as a result of a 40-billion-forint (EUR 111 million) investment, began operations in 2012 as one of Europe’s largest and most modern pressing plants, and since then has processed some 5 million tons of sunflower seeds. The first phase of the company’s latest investment will be creating 40 new workplaces in the region. During the course of the project, Pannon Vegetable Oil Production Ltd. will be expanding its plant with a vegetable oil refinery to supplement existing raw oil production and enable the production of refined oil. The most important crop is sunflower seeds, but the plant is also capable of processing rapeseed, soy bean and maize germ.

The region’s Member of Parliament Sándor Font (Fidesz) highlighted the fact that Glencore and its Foktő plant adds significant value to the growth and export revenues of the Hungarian economy, and to the standard of living of the local population through job creation.

Glencore Agriculture is present in 35 countries and employs some 16 thousand people worldwide. According to publicly available company data, Pannon Vegetable Oil Production Limited, which employs 135 people, posted pre-tax profits of 5.2 million dollars in 2018, following almost 5 million dollars in the previous year.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade / MTI)