<p></p><p>According to Ledó Ferenc, president of the Hungarian Fruit and Vegetable Interprofessional Organisation (FruitVeB), there are good times in sight for Hungarian walnut producers. The quality is said to be better than those of the Italian and American production. Long-term investments over the past few years due to growing interest in the crop could result in the country's production doubling within 3 to 5 years."Last year, the weather was favourable for the crop, so there has been an abundance of high-quality, large walnuts," stated Ledó Ferenc. Experts believe that the biggest advantage of Hungarian walnuts is that most of them are early ripening, thus preventing foreign competition in September and ensuring great opportunities in the international market. <br></p> <p>The Agricultural Economics Research Institute (AERI) reports that shelled walnuts are one of the only fruits with a positive foreign trade balance. A total of about 2.19 thousand tonnes of shelled walnuts were sold last year to foreign markets, representing a slight decrease of three percent, while the value of exports amounted to HUF 1.84 billion (5.92 million Euro).Prices at origin for domestic walnuts in 2015 were 13 percent higher than a year earlier; the price per kilo stood close to three thousand forints (9.65 Euro). Exports went mainly to the French and German markets, although significant shipments went also to the United Kingdom.<br></p><p></p>