These factors influenced prices in the milk and egg markets

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 07. 07. 12:22

The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has also concluded two accelerated sector investigations. One in the domestic market of dairy products and one in the domestic market of table eggs. The GVH investigators identified several factors that had an impact on the pricing of individual value chains, and thus on consumer prices.

The GVH found that several of its previous proposals had been useful in the dairy market, and the online Price Monitoring System launched in the summer of 2023 and the margin reduction applied from March 2025 reduced consumer prices. The price increases that occurred in 2024-2025 – which increased food inflation – were caused by complex effects, typically the increase in feed and energy prices, the labor shortage, the rearrangement of income relations within the value chain, and the purchasing practices of certain retailers.

On 15 April 2025, at the meeting of the Economic Committee of the Parliament, Csaba Balázs Rigó, President of the GVH, announced that the national competition authority had launched accelerated sector investigations in the domestic market for milk and dairy products and eggs. The President of the GVH justified the investigations by stating: “In the recent period, it has been a widespread phenomenon that the prices of both dairy products and table eggs have fluctuated significantly. In addition, we have seen that the consumer prices of these products have jumped significantly recently.”

Following the launch of the two accelerated sector investigations, the GVH conducted extensive data collection at all levels of the value chain of the domestic dairy and egg sector: the competition authority requested data from the producers, processors, cooperatives and retailers concerned. The data summaries and descriptions included in the two draft reports are based on a total of more than 230 data submissions from market participants and their evaluation.