The margin reduction will apply to thousands of household products in 30 categories

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 05. 13. 11:10

The margin reduction will apply to around a thousand household products in thirty categories, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) said on Tuesday in the TV2 program Mokka.

Róbert Zsigó added that the margin reduction was introduced for products – such as disposable diapers, baby powders, dishwashing and laundry detergents, and toiletries – that families and the elderly buy more of.

He said that the margin was capped at 15 percent in the regulation for drugstores. According to him, the margin reduction for household products was necessary because there was a large price increase for these products as well.

He said that

since the introduction of the margin reduction, the price of 909 products has decreased by an average of 19.7 percent since March 17, and 271 foods have become cheaper by at least 30-40 percent, which shows that there were foods that previously had extra profits.

He said that he does not expect stores to introduce quantitative restrictions on products with reduced margins. There was such a fear with food products, but it did not happen that any of them could not be accessed.

The state secretary also said that strict inspections would be carried out, that 817 inspections had been held so far in connection with the margin reduction of food products, that proceedings are ongoing in 185 cases, and that fines have already been imposed.

The consumer protection authority takes two aspects into account in its inspections: whether stores inform customers at the entrance and on the products what discounted products can be purchased, and whether retail chains inform government agencies about purchase prices. They also check whether there is “cross-pricing”, that is, whether they do not increase the price of other products for the sake of profit.