Soft paper, hard market

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/10

Low purchasing sentiment

The two categories typically have a broad consumer base, as they have become everyday items in modern households.

Barbara Horváth
senior category manager
Essity Hungary

Barbara Horváth, senior category manager at Essity Hungary Kft. reports that the facial tissue market contracted by 10.4% in value terms, while volume sales were close to stagnation at -0.6% in the first half of 2024.

“The pocket segment experienced the most significant decline in both value and volume, resulting in a further narrowing of the value gap with box products”,

she adds.

Réka Forgách
brand manager
Essity Hungary

Essity Hungary Kft.’s 90-piece facial tissues are the most popular, especially the fragrance-free variant. This is followed by the premium, 4-ply, fragrance-free 10×9 and boxed Softis tissues.

“In our communication we are focusing on the benefits of Zewa 3-in-1. Our products are exceptionally soft, which is a primary consumer choice factor in this category”,

says Réka Forgách, brand manager of Essity Hungary Kft.

In the “battle” between pocket and box of paper tissues, the latter seems to be the winner

Strong seasonal offering

Vajda-Papír Kft.’s popular large-format Ooops! Classic 90-piece facial tissues are available in many versions, from which the green tea fragrance variant is a big hit in drugstores. A favourite among paper napkins is the Ooops! Junior sub-brand. For summer barbecues the company recommends large Ooops! Everyday and Ristorante napkins. Their premium quality Grill napkins – with their distinctive grill utensils and summer fruit motifs – are a great addition to the seasonal product selection and fit in perfectly with the style of garden parties.

Gábor Vizur
category manager
Sofidel Hungary

Gábor Vizur, category manager of Sofidel Hungary Kft. says demand for facial tissues is heavily influenced by the flu and allergy season – now almost all year round, but especially in the periods from October to February and June to August. Bulk paper tissues (90-100 pieces) account for the majority of the market, with the remainder coming from the 10×9 and boxed versions.

“A certain seasonality is also observed in the napkin category. High seasons include Christmas, the Easter period and summer barbecues”,

informs the category manager.

Growing sheet number

Sofidel Hungary Kft.’s portfolio of paper napkins and tissues underwent a great renewal this year. Napkins are labelled and sub-branded to make it easy for everyone to find the right product, according to their individual preferences/needs. The facial tissue portfolio was optimised: the company reduced the number of products and renewed the Bianka range, which is now available under the new name Regina Delicate. Sofidel has cut down on shrink wrap use in the packaging of both napkins and tissues, and now uses 30% recycled plastic.

Sándor Gödri
sales director
Metsä Tissue HU

Metsa Tissue Kft. is active in the facial tissue category, being present in the 10×10 and boxed formats.

“Sales of both scented and unscented products are developing nicely, but the 10-pack sizes are dominated by the latter. In addition to the renewal of the design, we have tried to increase the number of sheets in our packs: for the 2-ply tissues we offer 100, 150 and 200 sheet boxes, while for the 3-ply we have introduced 90 sheet packs”,

explains the sales director.

Omar Balducci
Közép-Kelet-Európáért
és AMEA régióért felelős
kereskedelmi igazgató
Lucart Group

“All markets have experienced a sales decline due to the inflationary pressure in previous years, but we are now facing a steady sales decrease owing to the drop in purchasing power. We have also reached record cost levels”,

says Omar Balducci, Lucart Group’s sales director in Central and Eastern Europe and the AMEA region.

Lucart’s customers can choose from more than 1,000 different tableware products (napkins, placemats, coasters, runners, tablecloths, napkin holders, cutlery holders). The company has added a new collection of tableware to the FATO range, designed especially for the festive season. This offers a very original take on traditional symbols, bringing warmth and colour to any venue. The new additions can be found in the Tablewear, Star and Tissue & Co. product lines. In addition to the new patterns and colours of napkins, tablecloths and smart-runners, FATO is also expanding the The Smart Table 1/8 napkin range with four new colours: champagne, burgundy, chocolate and black. //

3 and 4-ply tissues are clearly preferred, but for single use 2-ply boxed products are also popular