The Hungarian government awarded Kall Ingredients a 9.2 billion forint grant for the project which has created almost 500 jobs.

MKB Bank and Eximbank provided 30 billion forints in credit for the plant. Eximbank estimates the plant could lift Hungary’s GDP by 185 billion forints, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the ceremony.

He welcomed the investment as being of great significance, noting that as the largest-scale such investment in the food industry over the past period since the regime change it marked a “new beginning” in the domestic industry.

The plant is expected to generate annual revenue of 55 billion, turning 530,000 tonnes of maize into sweetener.

Economy Minister Mihály Varga and Agriculture Minister Sandor Fazekas also participated at the ceremony, together with László Kárpáti, the majority owner of Kall Ingredients, and Lőrinc Mészáros of Opus Global, a minority owner in the company.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Szigetváry Zsolt