Because of the extreme drought, the harvest of the main field crops was significantly lower in 2022 than in the previous year. 10% less barley, 21% less wheat, harvested in the largest quantity, and 57% less maize, exposed the most to the drought, were reaped. The yield of sunflower, despite the growth in its production area, was down by 29% and that of rape, grown on a smaller area than previously, by 31%. As an impact of crop failures and uncertainties in supplies, procurement prices rose to record levels.

Harvest results of cereals markedly fall

The production structure of agriculture in Hungary shifted towards the production of field crops. Through this, the sector is exceptionally sensitive to more and more frequent weather extremes. 2022 was extraordinarily dry compared to earlier years, and, unfortunately, similar periods may occur more often in the future. The extremely weak output in year 2022 calls attention to the necessity for rethinking production structure and technologies.

• Over five million tonnes fewer cereals (8.8 million tonnes) were produced compared to the previous year.

• The weather almost without precipitation until mid-August, and the repeated heat waves caused a fifth smaller harvest of wheat and a more than half smaller harvest of maize.

As opposed to the past years, wheat had the larger (48%) and maize the smaller (32%) share of the total cereal harvest in 2022. Out of ear cereals, the lowest decrease, of 10% (or 172 thousand tonnes), was recorded in the harvest of barley (1.5 million tonnes) compared to the previous year. Its share of the cereal harvest went up to 18% from 12% in the previous year.

The harvested area of wheat grew by 58 thousand hectares to 951 thousand hectares in 2022. Merely 4.2 million tonnes of wheat were produced on a 6.5% larger harvested area compared to the previous year, which production was 21% less than in 2021 and 20% less than the average of the previous five years. The average yield of 4.4 tonnes per hectare in 2022 was nearly 26% lower than the record high in 2021.

The most wheat was produced in Békés and Fejér Counties. The former had a share of 8.5% and the latter 8.0% of the quantity produced in the country. The yield was relatively high in counties in Transdanubia, even among which Tolna (6.3 tonnes/hectare), Somogy (6.1 tonnes/hectare) and Zala (5.9 tonnes/hectare) stood out. The lowest average yields were measured for Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Heves and Pest Counties, the average yield not being so low for over 15 years for the first and for 10 years in the case of the second county mentioned.

In the first 11 months of 2022, 18% less wheat was procured from producers than in the same period of 2021. The procurement price, however, was 129 forints/kilogram, substantially, 83% higher than a year earlier.

Contributors to the significant rise in the procurement price of the main crops were, besides crop failures, the uncertainties on the global cereal market caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war and the considerable increase in input (e.g. energy and fertiliser) prices, which was also increased by the weakening of the forint against major currencies.

Substantial maize crop failure

The harvested area of maize shrank to an unprecedented level (to 820 thousand hectares) in 2022, by over 22% compared to the previous year. This was owing to a small decrease in the sown area (983 thousand hectares), as well as to farmers deciding in many cases on green harvesting or on discing because of bad crop development caused by the drought or of unfavourable harvest prospects. Merely 2.8 million tonnes of production could be harvested from land areas scorched by the drought, which was 57% less compared to 2021 and 63% less than the average of the previous five years. The average yield of 3.4 tonnes per hectare was 44% lower compared to 2021 and 55% lower compared to the average of the previous five years. Such a low yield has been without an example for more than fifty years.

About 38% less maize was procured from producers in the first 11 months of 2022 than in the corresponding period of 2021, at an average price of 110 forints per kilogram, which was a rise of 55% over a year.

The yield of wheat per hectare, 5.9 tonnes in 2021, considered a record, fell to 4.4 tonnes in 2022. The average yield of maize did not reach even that of wheat in 2022.

The average yield of maize became the largest in Zala and Vas Counties, with smaller areas of maize (25 thousand and 22 thousand hectares, respectively), as a consequence of a lower lack of precipitation in the western part of the country than in the east. The average yield in the two counties in the Great Plain having the largest harvested areas (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 98 thousand and Békés 76 thousand hectares) remained lower than the national figure.

Nearly a third less sunflower and rape produced

The area of sunflower increased by some 27 thousand hectares to 682 thousand hectares in 2022, which was over 8.4% larger than the average of the previous five years. Not even 1.3 million tonnes of sunflower were harvested, 29% less than in the previous year, along with a yield of 1.8 tonnes per hectare. The impact of the drought was significant on the harvest results not only in Hungary but also in most large European sunflower-producing countries.

Because of the crop failure, the procurement price of sunflower was 52% higher than in the same period of the previous year, 269 forints per kilogram.

There was a marked reduction in the harvested area of rape in 2022, which area was thus 203 thousand hectares, nearly 55 thousand hectares smaller than the area in 2021. 31% less, 507 thousand tonnes of the crop were harvested from the smaller area. The average yield of 2.5 tonnes per hectare was 12% lower than in the previous year and nearly 16% less than the average of years 2017–2021. The procurement price of rape was 283 forints/kilogram on average in January–November 2022, 62% higher than in the same period of 2021.

The average yields of sunflower and rape were the same between 2018 and 2020, however, it was the yield of sunflower that decreased more significantly compared to 2020, it was merely 1.8 tonnes per hectare in 2022.

Out of the harvested areas of the four field crops with the largest values of production, the area of wheat was enlarged in 2022 and that of sunflower in 2021, too, compared to the previous year, while the area of maize was cut in 2022 and that of rape in both years.

The harvested area of potatoes remained below 10 thousand hectares for the second year in a row in 2022. The area of 8.8 thousand hectares in the previous year was down to 7.9 thousand hectares. This area was nearly 31% smaller compared to the average of the previous five years. The reduction in the production area and the drought together resulted in the lowest production of 194 thousand tonnes to date since 1921, for when the earliest data were registered.

Owing to the low production, the procurement price of potatoes was 134 forints per kilogram in the first 11 months of 2022, 25% higher than a year earlier.

Lower harvest of main vegetables as well

The drought, as well as the withdrawal of active ingredients of some plant protection products put vegetable producers at a disadvantage in 2022, which made it more difficult to ensure protection against pathogens and pests. The harvested area of sweet corn further diminished, while that of green peas was somewhat enlarged compared to 2021. As a result of the thermal shock occurring in the growing season of the after-seed of both crops, only an average harvest was observed even on irrigated areas. In many cases, however, there was not even after-seed. The harvests of tomato and green pepper decreased to a relatively low extent, 10% less being produced of the former and 8.3% less of the latter (155 thousand and 84 thousand tonnes, respectively).

Best harvest in last years in apricot and peach plantations

Not so few apples, representing the largest area out of fruits, have been produced for more than ten years. 313 thousand tonnes of apple were harvested, 39% less than in 2021. As there were no late frosts, the largest production since 2019, however, has been recorded for orchards blossoming earlier on, such as the areas of apricot, peach, sour cherry and plum.

In 2022, 24 thousand tonnes of apricot, over twice as much as, and 20 thousand tonnes of peach, nearly 90% more than the production in the previous year were harvested. 70 thousand tonnes of sour cherry were produced, a 15% larger quantity than in the previous year. 36 thousand tonnes of plum production were harvested from nearly as large an area as in the previous year, which production was 8.4% higher than in 2021.

Despite drought, wheat production decreases less in the European Union

The sown area of the main crops (wheat, maize, sunflower and potatoes) was 517 thousand hectares (1.4%) larger in the European Union in 2022 than a year earlier. As an effect of the drought, hitting the member states to differing degrees, the total production was down by 11% to 234 million tonnes. A similar, 9.3% decline in the quantity was observed compared to the average of years 2017–2021, too.

134 million tonnes of wheat were produced in the member states of the European Union in 2022 according to preliminary data,Wheat data for Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Latvia excluding durum wheat.^[1] 2.6% less than in 2021, with an outstanding quantity. The extreme drought typical of the whole year led to the lack of ground water, too, which, for example, induced a decrease of nearly 27% in the harvest in Spain. The growth in the yields in some member states with large potential for production took the edge of the fall in the EU: the harvest expanded by 5.9% in Germany, producing 22.7 million tonnes of wheat, and by 11% in Poland, harvesting nearly 13.5 million tonnes. The largest wheat producer was still France, where almost 2 million tonnes fewer were produced compared to one year earlier, but which even so accounted for a quarter of the EU’s production with a quantity of 35.0 million tonnes. 20% of the EU’s area of wheat can be found there. The average yields were varied, there being a difference of nearly 9 tonnes/hectare between the countries reaching the highest and the lowest production per hectare.

Hungary accounted for 3.1% of the EU’s wheat production, and with a quantity of 4.2 million tonnes, our country achieved the 11th position after the eighth one in the previous year in the rankings of the member countries.

Maize production breaks negative record

After the record production in 2021, the quantity of maize harvested in 2022 was a 15-year low in the European Union. The drought mostly hit this crop, and heat waves in the growing season added to the damage. A total of not even 52 million tonnes of maize were produced in the 27 member states in 2022, 29% less than in 2021. The most maize was collected in France (11.0 million tonnes) for the third year in a row already, while Poland was in the second place (with 8.7 million tonnes), where, similarly to few other countries, a growth could be realised in the production compared to 2021. Hungary had the highest rate of fall in quantity (–57%) in the EU, so with the result of 2.8 million tonnes, it took only the seventh place after the fourth one in the previous year in the rankings of the member countries. The extreme drought prevailing in the Carpathian Basin severely hit, similarly to Hungary, Romania as well, being in the leading group in earlier years, too, which country could produce merely the half of the quantity of maize there in 2021. Significant decreases in the harvest occurred in Slovakia and Sweden, too.

Hungary produced 5.4% of the EU’s maize production. The most favourable yield, similarly to 2021, was recorded for Spain, with a result of nearly 11.5 tonnes per hectare, and the lowest ones for Romania and Hungary (3.0 and 3.4 t/ha, respectively), countries suffering marked decreases in quantity.

Sunflower production down despite growing area

The production of sunflower, similarly to the other crops sown in the spring, was also strongly affected by the drought and the successive heat waves. Though the crop was produced in the member states on some 5.2 million hectares, a nearly fifth larger area compared to 2021, 11% less, 9.2 million tonnes were harvested. Although nearly a fifth less was produced in Romania, the country maintained its leading position in the rankings of the member countries, with a harvested quantity of 2.3 million tonnes, which was followed by Bulgaria with 2.1 million tonnes, a country slightly more productive compared to the previous year. The order of the remaining member states changed only to a certain extent compared to the results for 2021. Hungary, even in spite of suffering the largest crop failure (–29%) in the EU, took the fourth place, as in 2021, with 1.3 million tonnes of harvested sunflower. This was a share of 14% of the EU’s production. The quantity of the sunflower – as well as of the maize – harvest was lower in the neighbouring countries such as Romania, Austria and Slovakia, too, than in the previous year.

The increase in the area of sunflower continued, the area of the crop growing considerably, by 18% in the EU compared to 2021. Sunflower was produced on a larger area than in the previous year in all but five member states. Its area expanded at outstanding rates in Poland (by 81%) and Spain (by 38%). In Hungary, the area of sunflower increased by 4.1% over a year, so the crop was produced there on nearly 700 thousand hectares again after five years.

In general, it was countries with lower production that could reach higher yields, the yields per hectare exceeding 2.5 tonnes in Greece and Czechia. In Hungary, 1.6 tonnes were harvested on average on one hectare of area, with which our country could surpass merely Portugal (1.5 t/ha) and Spain (0.9 t/ha) out of the member states.

Europe’s potato production lessens

Following 2021, the quantity of harvested potatoes went on decreasing in the EU in 2022. A total of 45.8 million tonnes of potatoes were produced on some 1.4 million hectares. With a quantity of 10.3 million tonnes, Germany kept its leading position, while reductions of over 20% in the production in France and Poland re-ranked the member states. The Netherlands rose to the second place, with a growth of 10% in the quantity and with 7.3 million tonnes of harvested potatoes. With 194 thousand tonnes, Hungary took the 18th place and accounted for less than 1% of the EU’s potato production.

According to the average yield, Sweden, with 40 tonnes/hectare and with its best production ever (941 thousand tonnes), closed up with the leaders, i.e. Denmark, France and Germany (42, 39 and 38 tonnes/hectare, respectively), having good production figures too.

[1]:↑ Wheat data for Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Latvia excluding durum wheat.

Further data and information

Methodology

19.1.1.12. Harvested area of main arable crops

19.1.1.15. Production of main arable crops

19.1.1.18. Average yield of main arable crops

19.1.2.5. Production of maize by county and region

19.1.2.11. Production of sunflower seed by county and region

19.1.2.12. Production of rape seed by county and region

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