A Kertészeti és Élelmiszeripari Egyetem Közleményei LVIII. [antikvár]

SOMÉ FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF TRANSITION IN HUNGÁRIÁN FOODECONOMYHajdú Istvánné, [email protected] Lakner Zoltán, [email protected] Kajari, Karolina [email protected] of Horticulture and Food Industry H-1118, Budapest, Villányi út 35-43.AbstractHungary and its food economy has had a turbulent history during the past ten years. The Hungárián agricultural sector was dominated by co-operatives and state farms, food industry by state owned, large, centrally directed companies. At the beginning of transition there was a common expectation that there will be a considerable improvement of fínancial performance of privatised agricultural and food industrial enterprises, utilising the possibilities of liberalised markét conditions. In practice; the agricultural production feli sharply, and the develöpment of food industry has been rather uneven depending upon the ownership structure of the enterprise.The article briefly chronicles somé important aspects of Hungárián transition from point of view of fínancial aspects of ownership-change, as well as analyses the possible role of state in regulation of food economy under conditions of a free markét economy.Keywords: privatisation, fínancial environment, markét regulation1. Privatisation of agriculture, food industry and the banking sectorBefore the transition two types of farm existed in Hungary: large scale farms (121 state farms and somé 1200 co-operatives ) and around 1.4 millión individual small plots (mostly part-time). Their share in land use was estimated at 14%, 80% and 6% respectively. The structure of the farm sector was characterised by the symbiotic coexistence of large production and small individual plots. This typically encouraged deeply integrated production relations between households and state farms/co-operatives.Hungary's land privatisation program was rather ill- based, because there was not a social consensus concerning the desirable ways of develöpment of agricultural structure. From the 4.8 millión ha occupied by the collective farms in the early of 1990s, 2 millión ha were formally owned privately by the farms' members, but there were restrictions on the land's use. By the end of 1992 this land had become priváté property.In the context of so-called compensation, about 2.5 millión ha of collective land and 0.2 millión ha state owned land were privatised through auctions. About 1.5 millión people received, on average, less than 2 hectares each.The remaining land from the collective farms was allocated to their members, but registration of these parcels is progressing slowly.