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Drought in Hungary forces to buy corn in Ukraine

06.10.2022 12:15

Hungarian farmers' association MOSZ said that in the last 12 months, Hungary's corn imports amounted to 1 million tons, which is a quarter of its annual needs. Due to a severe drought, the own harvest was greatly reduced and forced to resort to the purchase of corn in Ukraine.

 «Last year's harvest was 6.5 million tons. Hungary has always been a corn exporter, but this year's harvest is expected to be the lowest since the 1970s.» — said Andras Mar, deputy general secretary of MOSZ.

The country needs about 4.5 million tons of corn annually, and under current conditions only about 2.8-3 million tons is expected. Hungarian producers use corn to produce animal feed, bioethanol and high-fructose corn syrup. According to experts' estimates, during the next twelve months, Hungary will import at least 1.5 million tons of corn from Ukraine.

In June of this year, Hungary proposed a possible route for the export of Ukrainian grain through its territory, as shipments via the traditional Black Sea routes were hampered by military action. Most of the corn that came under this scheme, according to Andras Mar, was bought by Hungarian processors because crops in Hungarian fields were destroyed by drought.

Source: agronews.ua