Magazine: Double flavours from fruit syrup manufacturers

László Hajnal
business unit director– Ági fruit syrup
Ital Magyarország

Ital Magyarország Kft.’s head of the Ági fruit syrup business unit László Hajnal told our magazine that sales of Ági fruit syrups have been developing steadily in all channels. Raspberry and orange are the top Ági flavours, but in line with the latest trends the company has started innovating in the refreshing and flavour combination directions too. The biggest hit of recent years was the lime-mint syrup, and at the moment the company is busy introducing more double flavours to the market.

László Torbán
sales director
Szikrai Borászat

Szikrai Borászati Kft.’s fruit syrup sales were up 10 percent in 2017, with sales of the leading brand Piroska growing the fastest. Sales director László Torbán reported growing consumer interest in low-sugar and low-carb products. No wonder that the main innovation directions are these for the company in 2018. Consumers are still focused on a healthy diet, so they want syrups with high fibre content and less sugar. In the battle of brands and private labels branded fruit syrups ended up winning in 2017, but in sales discount supermarkets strengthened.

Károly Takács
sales director
Pölöskei Italgyártó

The Pölöskei brand is developing dynamically in the fruit syrup market: sales augmented by two-digit numbers in both volume and value. Károly Takács, sales director of Pölöskei Italgyártó Kft. agreed that branded products managed to better their performance to the detriment of private labels. As regards retail channels there was no change, but the different levels of cooperation improved. Retailers have understood that they can work well with syrup manufacturers.

Eszter Birven
marketing director
GRAMEX DRINKS

Eszter Birven, marketing director of GRAMEX DRINKS spoke to us about a stagnation in the sales of low-priced fruit-flavoured syrups, with sales of premium fruit syrups rising slowly but steadily. The most popular flavours in the company’s Sconto Prémium product range aren’t the classic raspberry and orange, but the kiwi-lime combination. Consumers seem to love the taste of cactus fig, so after the 1-litre version a 2-litre variant of this came out in the Sconto Prémium range. The new flavours that were introduced last year in the 2-litre Sconto fruit-flavoured syrup range are performing very well.

This year Ital Magyarország Kft. launched four new flavours: in the traditional category sour cherry-plum and mango-lotus fruit came out, while they also put a new innovative product category on the market – these products are made without added sugar and will soon be available in mango-citrus and raspberry-lemon balm flavours.Szikrai Borászati Kft. innovates with a conscious diet and a healthy and active lifestyle in mind. They will be present at important events and there will also be a prize game to promote the company’s products.

Pölöskei Italgyártó Kft. is cooperating with several retail chains this year, within the framework of the so-called fruit syrup+water promotions. As part of these, every Pölöskei fruit syrup buyer will get a 1.5-litre Visegrádi mineral water for free. 2019 will see the debut of a new product line. GRAMEX DRINKS is present with 9 different fruit syrup flavours in the 2-litre category; another 4 flavours can be found in the 1-litre Sconto Prémium fruit syrup with 25-percent fruit content category. A large part of the company’s turnover is from private label products and manufacturing for partners, so once again they are going to be present at the PLMA trade fair. //