Another important food shortage: Hungarian potato at risk

Not only is it getting more expensive, there are also not enough Hungarian potatoes. The Hungarian Potato Association is far from optimistic.

Potatoes are getting fewer and more expensive

The price of potatoes is rising, but that is not the biggest problem today, Portfolio.hu reports. The National Potato Association and Product Council estimates that 160-165 thousand tonnes of potatoes could be produced this year. According to the Central Statistical Office (KSH), it has fallen from 400 thousand tonnes to this level in five years, with 270 thousand tonnes forecast for 2021.

The trade organisation is not at all optimistic about the future. If yields and area shrinkage persist over the next few years, they see a threat to domestic supply security, hvg.hu writes. The annual per capita consumption of potatoes in 2020 was 28.3 kilograms, plus the needs of the catering, public catering and processing industries. However, even with a careful estimate, only half of the domestic demand was Hungarian, the rest was imported.

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