Hungarian meat business invests in new facilities

10-Apr-2018 - Last updated on 10-Apr-2018 at 07:33 GMT

Kurucz Group is to expand its pork producing facilities

Hungarian meat business Kurucz Group has launched an investment to build a new pork meat processing plant and a slaughterhouse in Sárrétudvari, in the country’s eastern region.

Ferenc Kurucz, managing director at Kurucz Group, told GlobalMeatNews that the construction work on the two facilities would be partly financed from funds the company obtained from the European Union.

“The project's overall budget is HUF3 billion, of which HUF1.48bn is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development,” said Kurucz. ”The investment is expected to be complete in the first quarter of January 2019."

Sárrétudvari is located about 188km from the country’s capital Budapest.

Pig breeding capacities

The project, worth about €9.6m, will allow Kurucz Group to fully benefit from its pig breeding capacities in Hungary. Under the plan, the meat for the planned slaughterhouse and the pork meat processing plant will be supplied by the firm’s eight hog farms which produce up to 150,000 hogs per year.

The farms are located in Hungary’s Hajdú-Bihar and Békés counties, both of which are located in the country’s eastern region.

“The planned yearly output of the slaughterhouse was tailored to the yearly livestock breeding quantity of our company,” said Kurucz.

Kurucz Agro’s product range includes ham, spare ribs, pork chop, pork scotch fillet, tenderloin medallions, liver, and others, according to data released by the firm. The meat business said its products are certified under the country’s Excellent Quality Pork (Kiváló Minőségű Sertéshús) programme. The firm also runs a Kurucz Butchery and Roast store in Debrecen.

Exports to rise

The new facility’s products will be aimed at the domestic market, but Kurucz Group is also planning to export its products to various foreign markets, including countries outside the EU, according to the company representative.

“We are willing to export, mainly to south-east Asian countries in which there is an expanding demand for exceptional high quality food,” said Kurucz.

The latest development comes amid an increase in pork consumption in the Hungarian market. Hungary’s agriculture minister Sandor Fazekas recently said that, owing to the cut in the value-added tax (VAT) on pork meat in 2016, pork sales have seen a significant increase. The tax rate was reduced from 27% to 5%, resulting in a 10% increase in the domestic consumption to about 25kg per capita, the minister told local news agency MTI.

However, despite the government’s efforts to promote pork, poultry remains the most popular type of meat in the Hungarian market, with an annual consumption of about 32kg per capita, according to data from local industry association Poultry Products Council (BTT).

Based in Ebes, in the country’s Hajdú-Bihar county, the meat business is owned by the Kurucz family, and was established by Ferenc Kurucz.