Hungarians love this meat; they rush to buy it in stores

The European turkey meat industry, including Hungary, has faced challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on restaurant consumption, the Ukrainian-Russian crisis, and high feed and energy costs. However, a more stable period is expected with decreasing feed prices and energy prices stabilization, despite bird flu epidemics. Turkeys are seen as a special meat for occasions and holidays, with increasing searches for recipes as Christmas approaches. The industry expects growth, with a shift in production capacities towards eastern and southern Europe due to environmental and animal protection regulations not allowing livestock farms in the west. Hungary's livestock farmers and food industry are set to benefit from significant development and investment subsidies, providing opportunities for competitive production and export of poultry products, including turkey.

We are going through very difficult years. The problems really started with the coronavirus epidemic, as a high proportion of turkey meat consumption was linked to restaurant consumption. Unfortunately, the closures and restrictions due to the epidemic, together with the HoReCa sector, seriously weakened the sector. Demand decreased, and since consumer preferences also changed (as a result of the negative economic effects), fewer and fewer people chose quality turkey products. This put the entire European production under pressure, and the product line experienced extremely difficult times. Unfortunately, from this period onwards, the quantity of live turkeys and slaughtered turkeys produced in Hungary also decreased - said Attila Csorbai. The expert added that this was followed by the Ukrainian-Russian crisis, which posed new, unexpected difficulties - partly due to the runaway feed prices and partly due to high energy costs. However, starting from the autumn of last year, when ...