Demand for Hungarian sweetcorn is stable in spite of the pandemic and the uncertain weather conditions, they added.

The market for frozen sweetcorn products shrank at a European level as restaurants had to temporarily close due to the pandemic, causing sales problems for the domestic frozen food industry. At the same time, household demand for canned sweetcorn increased and canning companies could sell their total stock in the recent period, Syngenta said.

The company noted that replacement of varieties susceptible to the maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV) had started several years ago and new, resistant hybrids had been introduced. 

Syngenta Hungary had net profit of HUF 830 million on revenue of more than HUF 60 billion in 2020, public records show.