Quality comes at a price!

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/12-2026.01

András Nagy
director
Hungarian Spirits
Industry Association
and Product Board

The Hungarian Spirits Industry Association and Product Board focuses primarily on the market and regulatory environment, as well as promoting responsible alcohol consumption,

told director András Nagy.

Maintaining competitiveness is the most important task for the sector, but this is made difficult by changes in tax rates. Compared to neighbouring countries, Hungary has high VAT and excise taxes, so it is the association’s job to constantly draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the fact: an increase in the illegal trade in alcoholic beverages leads to a plunge in tax revenues. It is needless to say that the growing burdens have clearly not resulted in sales growth, but rather the opposite. Volume sales are decreasing, in part because of illegal and cross-border trade – shopping tourism is currently on the rise.

Changing consumption habits and the premiumisation trend of recent years are in line with the association’s objectives and the idea of conscious alcohol consumption. In recent years the association has focused not only on the operating conditions and market situation of the sector, but also on shaping consumer attitudes. Their representative survey conducted in the spring has found: more than half of 18-49 year-old Hungarian consumers drink alcohol at least once a month. Regularity proportionally increases the quantity consumed and younger people typically associate drinking with social events such as parties and gatherings. Based on the results of the study, the association launched an awareness-raising campaign in the summer, which sought to promote responsible and conscious alcohol consumption.