February 4, 2005

Hungarian farmers offer 3.8 million tons of grain to EU

Farmers in Hungary have offered a total of 3.79 million metric tons of grain for subsidized purchase to the European Union.

Most of the grain was corn, at 2.2 million tons, and wheat, at 1.4 million tons.

The Agricultural and Rural Development Office, which collects the grain, has found that 10%-15% of the produce is of low quality and doesn't qualify for intervention purchase.

The office has accepted a total of 800,000 metric tons of grain for intervention so far.

Hungarian farmers have threatened roadblocks because they think intervention purchases and the payments from them have proceeded too slowly.

The E.U. buys agricultural produce from farmers at a set price to subsidize a steady food supply and to ease farmers' market participation.