Hungarian Poultry
The Poultry Slaughter and Processor Industry

Description of Poultry Processing Plants
Image The poultry sector has traditionally been of outstanding importance in Hungary. The Statistik des K"nigreichs Ungarn published in 1798 mentions that 'poultry breeding is relatively more extensive in Hungary than in any other European country due to the high consumption of eggs and poultry in all their forms'. The first industrial plant commenced operations in 1870 in the southern town of Kecskem‚t. Frenchborn Jen˘ Giraud founded the first goose liver processing plant in 1902. The significance of this sector for the national economy is indicated by the fact that before the Eirst World War it was responsible for nearly 5% of the country's exports. Typical recipient countries included Austria, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. On the evidence of contemporary documents, the high quality of Hungarian poultry - which has been maintained to the present day - was reflected in its market prices. By 1938 this sector had increased its share of Hungarian exports to 10%.

Image After the Second World War, exports were re-established on a modest scale and the larger slaughter houses were nationalised in 1948. In the 1960s the poultry industry began its recovery. An increase in the quantity of raw material waiting for processing could be handled only by the introduction of new plants in mixed ownership, alongside a state-owned industry constructed on the basis of former capitalist enterprises. The record year was 1988, when the integrated poultry industry processed poultry for slaughter with a live weight of 504,000 tonnes, 221,000 tonnes of which went for export.

The position of the Hungarian poultry sector remained unshaken by the political transformation process, with the value of its gross production output exceeding USD 700 million in 1995, of which realised exports amounted to USD 420 million.

Major characteristics of primary slaughtering plants:

  • They are relatively densely situated in particular parts of Hungary (the southern part of the Hungarian Great Plain the Alfold - covered by counties Bacs-Kiskun, Bekes, Csongrad and Szolnok), an area with very strong traditions in this sector.

  • Relatively few plants specialise in one particular poultry breed, the emphasis tending to be on a range of breeds.

  • Slaughter and processor plants are also integrators of agriculture, these activities being central for the areas in question.

  • Among those possessing an animal sanitation identification number - with a few exceptions - production is principally for export.

  • In order to prevent secondary salmonella infection, poultry export plants introduced preliminary air cooling, in connection with which the preliminary water cooling method is being progressively eliminated.

  • An increasing number of primary slaughtering plants now have a unit capable of manufacturing so-called further processing products.

    • [Back]     [Table of Contents]     [Next]


    Pagemaker 1998 THEO MULTIMEDIA - Hosted by:AGRARIA.IT