Concentration of the trade and the small-scale fruit and vegetable producers – practices in Hungary and in the European Union

This study examines the conflicts arising from the requirements of the food retail chains and their possible solutions, based on an analysis of the foreign and domestic trade literature and on a domestic assessment of 2008. Direct supplies from small-scale producers have future prospects only in the field of niche market products. Only production organisations integrating small-scale producers may be successful in the supply of large quantity products of homogeneous quality. In Hungary, similar organisations – principally POs – still do not have a role comparable to that they fulfil in more developed countries of the European Union in the field of the supplies to the food retail chains. For increasing supplies, the domestic small-scale producers should change their mentality, and increase their adaptability and marketing-oriented innovative skills. The state, on the other hand, should grant assistance in mitigating the lack of capital due to the small-scale production and support more efficiently the increasing role of the different producer organisations, especially of the POs.