The Moon isn’t made of cheese at the moment

By: Szalai László Date: 2025. 10. 01. 19:16

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Recent market trends have shifted cheese sales towards lower-priced products. The latest government measure to curb inflation, the so-called margin freeze also applied to Trappist cheese. This has had a beneficial effect on sales, but at the expense of other, more expensive types of cheese.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/10.

Less at once

The trends observed last year – the strengthening of discount supermarket chains and the rise of private label products – continue this year.

Beáta Bukovenszki
head of domestic sales
Gallicoop

“Price-sensitive shoppers often choose simpler, lower-priced cheese or cheese substitutes. At the same time there is a growing demand for products intended for those following convenience and special diets, such as lactose-free products”,

says Beáta Bukovenszki, head of domestic sales at Gallicoop Zrt. who is also responsible for cheese sales at Agrár Zrt.

Consumer demand has turned towards smaller products, owing to the weak purchasing power, even if larger products still account for a significant proportion of volume sales.

Csaba Hang
managing director
Alföldi Tej

“Due to consumer price-sensitivity and the economic situation, private label products and cheese sold in promotion continue to play a leading role, and imported products also compete with domestic cheeses”,

underlines Csaba Hang, managing director of Alföldi Tej Kft.

István Káposztás
sales director
König-Units

István Káposztás, sales director at König-Units Kft.:

“There has been a noticeable expansion in the selection of cheeses weighing 200-350g, and grated cheeses are also appearing in more and more shops and in a greater variety”.

Cautious optimism

Gallicoop is cautiously optimistic about the second half of 2025: the slow decline in inflation is having a positive effect on consumption and the end of the year always brings an increase in demand on the cheese market. The company’s innovation work is driven by consumer demand and health-conscious trends.

Demand for the premium segment has narrowed, but not totally vanished – it is characterized by occasional purchases and conscious choices

Alföldi Tej offers delicious products for both price-sensitive and quality-conscious consumers, which they make from excellent domestic milk produced by Hungarian farmers. This can’t be emphasised enough, as Hungarian consumers love domestic products and try to buy them whenever they can. In the present economic situation König-Units believes innovation isn’t the main focus: the main objective is to keep the existing market. The company wishes to play a key role on the emerging grated cheese market with its products. They have entered the market with a large selection of 500g cheeses. König-Units will be promoting the premium quality Lazur marble cheese range at the end of the year.

Say cheese! (A snapshot of the cheese market)

Guest writer:
Zsuzsa Hunwald
consultant
YouGov Shopper

Cheese is very popular food, purchased by nearly every Hungarian household, with a market penetration rate of nearly 100%. In the dairy product category cheese has a 10% volume share, while its value share is more than 30%. The average price of cheese is HUF 3,121/kg, which drops to HUF 2,737 during promotions. Semi-hard cheese accounts for more than 70% of volume sales, from which nearly two-thirds are Trappist varieties. The share of private label products on the cheese market is way above the FMCG average in terms of both value and volume. The rise of convenience products is evident on the cheese market: between 2019 and Apr 2025 the volume of grated cheese sold was up 90% and sliced cheese sales grew by 30%. More than half of value sales is realised in discount supermarkets.