Hungarian agriculture on the brink of collapse due to fuel shortage?
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Back on November 15th, the Hungarian government had ordered to cap the retail price of fuels in Hungary. This measure was extended an additional three months on February 23rd.
Fuel cap
Additionally, the government had ordered to also cap the wholesale price of fuels in Hungary at 480 forints (€1.3) per litre. This, and the depreciation of the forint as a currency compared to the euro, has made it so that
last week, the Hungarian price of fuels measured in euro was the lowest in all of Europe, Portfolio writes.
However, as we previously reported, while some officials of both MOL and the Hungarian government said that there is no shortage of fuel in the country, only localised logistics and supply issues, people in several locations around Hungary swarmed gas stations, created queues of hundreds of metres, and eventually drained many stations of their reserves.
At border-towns, like Sopron, neighbouring countries’ citizens would often cross the border to stock up on fuel at a much lower price thanks to the price cap the Hungarian government enacted.
Problems in agriculture
Since then, the situation has not yet been resolved, and to make matters worse, the National Association of Agricultural Cooperatives and Producers (MOSZ) called on the government to prioritise providing fuel at the capped price for agriculture workers.
The problematic supply chain and the fact that producers have to purchase fuel at a price of 600-700 forints (€1.58-1.84) per litre can lead to an agricultural crisis in Hungary.