The famous Hungarian apple disappeared – Polish products flood the market
Apple is an important product of Hungarian agriculture. The so-called “szabolcsi alma” (the apple of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county) is one of the country’s popular products abroad. Some say it is the “gold of Szabolcs”. The apple pálinka of Szabolcs is a Hungaricum popular everywhere in the world. In 2012, the Szabolcs apple and poppy seed cake was chosen as the Cake of Hungary. However, this year, the Hungarian apple disappeared from the market, and Polish products dominated the supply. Here is why.
According to agroforum.hu, Poland was the world’s fourth biggest apple producer, with 3.08 million tonnes. They were preceded only by China (42 million tonnes), the United States (almost 5 million) and Turkey (3.6 million). Hungary’s apple yield was much higher in the 1980s. We reached the peak in 1982 with 1.25 million tonnes. Since then, the yields have been continuously decreasing. The curve has two nadirs in 1995 and 2011 and stood almost at 500,000 tonnes in 2021.
Currently, there is an oversupply on the Polish market, so it is worth selling their products in Hungary, fruitveb.hu wrote. That is because Poland had a record-high apple yield this year, reaching 4.2 million tonnes. Meanwhile, in Hungary, yields were low.
Therefore, Polish producers started to sell their products in Hungary in the last few weeks. They calculated with a HUF 60-62/kg (EUR 0.15/kg) buying-in price. That is worth it despite the high transport costs due to the skyrocketing fuel prices.
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Interestingly, the companies buying the Polish apple in Hungary are the same, but the prices are very different. In Hungary, they pay the price, while in Poland, they spend only half of that sum, around HUF 34/kg (EUR 0.08/kg).
Marketing their products in Hungary is suitable for Polish producers. The more trucks loaded with apples leave the country, the better. Furthermore, if the export is fast enough, it might reduce retail prices in Hungary.
Hungarian producers get HUF 40/kg (EUR 0.1/kg) for industrial apples. The cause of the apple shortage in Hungary is the country’s severe drought during the summer. As a result, the apple yield will be lower this year at 200 thousand tonnes at least. That will have a considerable effect on the market of the industrial apple. Traditionally, Germany is the biggest market for the Polish industrial apple.
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Source: fruitveb.hu, agroforum.hu