Agriculture

Agricultural statistics aims at assessing the performance of agriculture. In connection with crop production the statistical domain takes account of the utilisation, rent and sales price of productive land, and the sales of produced products. It also includes data on livestock and the production and sales of animal products. The effects of agriculture on the environment are substantially influenced by the technology used in production, so the statistical domain covers data for example on organic farming and the use of plant protection chemicals. A farm structure survey as well is made at intervals of several years, in which the number, size and labour input of holdings are surveyed.

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Rise in consumer prices slows down in 2020

Inflation increased from 2016, which trend stopped in 2020, when consumer prices were 3.3% higher on average than a year earlier. The price of other goods, including motor fuels, was reduced, clothing and footwear prices were unchanged, and the price of the other main groups of expenditure went up at varying rates. The price rise of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, electricity, gas and other fuels as well as services was lower and that of food and consumer durables higher in 2020 than in 2019.

A small part of Hungary exposed to drought in 2020

There have been merely five years since 2000 when there has not been a drought in Hungary. At the same time, the proportion of areas exposed to drought reached 80% in six years during these two decades. 2017–2019 were years particularly hit by lack of precipitation. Drought reigned in the spring of 2020, too, yet the more-than-average precipitation in the summer months later on made up for the lack of water for the most part. Drought was seen on 310 thousand hectares in total in 2020, so the proportion of areas exposed to drought was 3.3%.

Quantity of collected cow’s milk further grows in 2020

Agricultural enterprises engaged in the collection and processing of cow’s milk collected some 1.6 million tonnes of milk from agricultural producers in 2020 for processing or resale, 2.7% more than in the previous year. The collected quantity of milk was higher in each month than in the same period of the previous year. Compared to 2019, larger quantities were produced of major cow’s milk-based products, within which a relatively significant increase was measured in the total weight of produced cream and butter.

Performance of domestic agriculture in 2019 (Economic accounts for agriculture, 2019)

The output and the gross value added of agriculture have grown in Hungary since 2012 at current prices. The output exceeded 2.8 thousand billion forints and the gross value added approximated 1.2 thousand billion forints in 2019. The volume of the output was 0.4% larger than a year earlier, cereals contributing at the highest rate to the growth. Labour input in agriculture went on decreasing. Hungary made up 1.9% of the EU’s agricultural output, within which 2.1% of crop products in 2019.

Agricultural producer and input prices, quarters 1–3, 2020

Agricultural producer prices rose by 7.3% in quarters 1–3 of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year. Within this, the price rise of crop products (9.0%) was considerably higher than that of live animals and animal products (4.6%). The keen demand and the poorer production raised fruits prices by 38%. Then again, pig prices have fallen since March 2020 because of the decrease in demand caused by the epidemic.

Growing demand for domestic wines abroad too

Wine-growers produced 3.2 million hectolitres of cask wine, drawn off once, in Hungary annually on average between 2015 and 2019. The larger part (2.8 million hl) of the production was sold, and nearly one-third of this was bought by foreign buyers. Export demand made up larger and larger quantities in the last few years, but own consumption represented a considerable proportion (11%) as well. 494 thousand tonnes of grapes were gathered in in 2015–2019 on average, the predominant part of which was accounted for by wine-grapes.

Livestock, 1 December 2019

More cattle, about as many chickens and fewer sheep and pigs were held in Hungary on 1 December 2019 than a year earlier. Larger quantities of slaughter cattle and chickens, cow's milk and hen's eggs for human consumption and smaller quantities of slaughter sheep and pigs were procured in 2019. The average procurement price of different live animals and animal products changed differently. The price rise was the highest for slaughter pigs (22%) and the price decrease for slaughter ducks (–3.0%).

Harvest results of main crops, 2019

The precipitation in May had a beneficial effect on the harvest results of ear cereals, but the draught in the middle of summer had an unfavourable influence on the yield of most arable crops harvested in autumn. Of the main vegetables less was produced than in 2018. The quantity of apple and sour cherry largely decreased because of extreme weather impacts and the base effect of the outstanding production in 2018. Hungary still has an important role in maize and sunflower production in the EU.

Sown area of main crops, 1 June 2019

Productive area, covering nearly 79% of the area of the country, was 7,319 thousand hectares on 1 June 2019, 36.5 thousand hectares smaller than a year earlier. In addition to the withdrawal of arable land areas from production, the area of smaller-share kitchen gardens shrank by 15%. The area of orchards increased by 449 hectares, and more than three times that turned productive compared to 2018. The share of cereals continued to grow in the crop structure.