Hungary wheat harvest could reach 4.5m tonnes

Hungary’s wheat harvest could reach 4.5 million tonnes in 2024, the head of the National Association of Grain Growers said after a meeting of the Harvest Coordination Commission on Wednesday.

Tamás Petőházi said it was difficult to estimate the harvest so early on, but acknowledged that grain growers had been challenged by a lack of rain since flooding in September 2024. He said average yield could reach 4.8 tonnes/hectare, resulting in a harvest of around 4.5 million tonnes.

He noted that Hungary’s domestic consumption of wheat stood at 2 million tonnes. Hungary’s wheat harvest was close to 5.3 million tonnes in 2024, data from the Central Statistics Office (KSH) show. Wheat prices have climbed to HUF 70,000-72,000/tonne, Petőházi said.

Imre Hubai, the state secretary for agriculture, noted that the government had earmarked HUF 4.7bn for upgrading irrigation infrastructure and was covering HUF 10bn of water fees for farmers. He added that the latter measure, unique to Hungary, had caused some controversy in Brussels.

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