Cheese, fruityoghurt, sour cream

Among the 90 food categories measured by Nielsen, cheese ranks 3rd, fruit yoghurt is 7th and sour cream is 9th in terms of value. All three achieved growth in terms of volume in November 2008-October 2009, mainly because consumers kept up or increased their consumption by buying cheaper products or larger units. Cheese sales were down by 4 percent in value, but up by 13 percent in volume. Sales seemed to be concentrating to hypermarkets, where volume sales were up by 3 percent at 42. Fruit yoghurt managed to expand in terms of both value (by 3 percent) and volume (by 4 percent). Average price augmented from HUF 119 to HUF 125 per packaging unit. Private labels’ share slightly decreased, they were at 10 percent in value and at 13 in volume; yoghurt drink value sales augmented by 19 percent and went above HUF 6 billion. Sour cream value sales contracted by 2 percent and the annual market went below the HUF 29 billion level. However, Nielsen registered a 6-percent growth in volume sales. Average price per packaging unit diminished from HUF 142 to HUF 136, partly because private labels reached a 57-percent share in volume sales. Packaging units: the 201-500-ml segment grew (volume share: 64 percent, value share: 32 percent).