April 4, 2008

Hungarian pig producers reduce herd count due to feed costs and competition
 

Pig producers in Hungary are cutting back on herd population due to soaring feed prices and robust competition from EU member states.

Global grain prices are forecast to increase by 20 to 50 percent by 2016, according to an OECD survey that was published last year. That would mean that smaller farms in eastern Europe would find themselves in an extremely harsh environment that are made worse by competition from their larger and more efficient competitors in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.

These factors had already led to a decrease of 3.8 million pigs from the original count of 8-10 million in the 1980s.

Since 2003, a year before Hungary joined the EU, about 200,000 smallholders had exited the industry, according to data released by the Agriculture Ministry last month.