Grain: World Markets and Trade
Foreign Agricultural Service Circular Series
FG 04-06
April 2006 

Eastern Europe Fills Void Left By Hungary In Global Corn Market

Chart detailing surge of Eastern Europe corn exports. Chart on the right illustrates that although Eastern Europe's corn exports are up due to Hungary, the majority of those exports are going to neighboring EU countries, therefore, Eastern Europe's impact on the global corn market has been minimal.

After consecutive bumper crops, East European corn producers have rapidly become important regional suppliers. It also doesn’t hurt that they are close to many Mediterranean markets and therefore hold a comparative freight and shipping advantage over larger, global, market suppliers, i.e., the United States and Argentina. However, the balance of corn trade shifted when Hungary and Slovakia joined the European Union. Rather than exporting 2.2-2.5 million tons of corn annually, their farmers have found it more profitable to sell surpluses to government (intervention) storage at a guaranteed price which has been higher than market or export prices.  So, without internal transportation or export subsidies, intervention corn stocks in Hungary and Slovakia have soared to over 5 million tons, while exports to non-EU markets are down to a trickle. Other EU countries have increasingly turned to Eastern Europe, covering 40 percent of imported corn needs from there last year, compared to only 8 percent before Hungary’s accession to the EU.

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Last modified: Thursday, March 08, 2007