While the brief summit meeting between Hungarian and Russian political leaders on Monday was overshadowed by the outbreak of violent anti-government protests in Budapest, even more overshadowed were the food-related discussions of the pow-wow. According to various Magyar and Slavic news sources, Hungary and Russia signed a five-year agreement covering food and agriculture, which Russian Minister of Agriculture Aleksey Gordeev (pictured above scowling at what we think is some nasty Russian fish) said will see Moscow “support Hungarian exporters of produce commodities to Russian market in every possible way.”
The trade in edibles between the two former Socialist partners is actually much larger than we thought. According to this article entitled “The Minister of Agriculture of Russia liked Hungarian produce”, Russia devours a large chunk of Hungary’s vast exports of meat, “semi-processed meat products,” canned fruits and apples. But while Gordeev said that Hungarian produce “is close to our preferences both regarding flavor and quality characteristics,” others warn that Hungary’s exports to Russia face “severe” competition from other countries, including Bulgaria and Moldova. And this was even before protestors on Monday night attacked the Russian war memorial in Budapest. So probably no need to stock up on apples this winter.
