Innovation work is strengthening in the beer industry

According to the Association of Hungarian Brewers (MSSZ), last year 6.7 million hectolitres of beer was sold in Hungary by the four major brewing companies – Borsodi Brewery Kft., Dreher Breweries Zrt., HEINEKEN Hungária Zrt., Pécsi Brewery Zrt., and importing company Carlsberg Hungary Kft. If compared with 2015, beer sales improved by 2.5 percent and export grew by 40 percent. Attila Schillinger, the director of MSSZ informed that domestic beer consumption was 6.1 million hectolitres in 2016, just like in 2015.

_{Attila Schillinger
director
MSSZ}

Sales of premium and super premium beers augmented by nearly 10 percent. Sales of cheap beers dropped 3.6 percent for the first time in many years. Innovation work is strengthening in the sector and more and more new, high-quality products are available. Hungarian brewing companies contributed with HUF 72.5 billion to the nation’s budget, in the form of taxes and social contributions. Breweries paid HUF 42 billion excise tax – 4.5 percent more than in 2015. Across the whole value chain the beer industry gives work to nearly 24,000 people, and most of these jobs are in the SME sector.

Since the 1990s per capita beer consumption dropped 40 litres to 60 litres. High taxes on products and poor quality imported beers cause problems in the beer market. This year MSSZ and the Hungarian Association of Microbreweries had asked the government to reduce the VAT on draught beer; later the Craft Beer Association joined the initiative. In 2017 the association also organised a contest to find Hungary’s best beer snacks – both Horeca professionals and amateur beer lovers entered the competition with their creations. The best snacks were selected from 49 entries. //