The recent bird flu outbreak has cost Hungary over 3 billion HUF, or 9.8 million euros, according to Világgazdaság, citing information from the farm ministry.
According to the ministry, farmers whose poultry were culled to prevent further spread of the deadly virus have received 2.7 billion HUF in compensation, and negotiations are under way to pay compensation to other farms affected by the epidemic.
The head of poultry producer Master Good, László Bárány, said that the poultry sector had suffered damages of a total 6.5 billion HUF including the indirect impacts. He compared the epidemic in the central parts of eastern Hungary to an “obliteration bombing” and insisted that the sector could not cope without government and European Union assistance.