Beer Association: beer consumption in Hungary increased again last year

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 02. 19. 10:24

After a 10 percent decrease in turnover in 2023, reminiscent of the Covid epidemic, the domestic turnover of the five largest Hungarian beer producers increased by 2.8 percent in 2024, to 5.55 million hectoliters, Sándor Kántor, director of the Hungarian Brewers’ Association, told MTI.

Beer consumption per capita; Hungary; person/liter/year

This has returned the dynamics of expansion to the rate of around 3 percent measured in 2021 and 2022, he noted.

Although the quality of domestic products is among the best in the world as a result of the multi-billion-forint technological and product development programs conducted by Hungarian beer producers over the years, rising production costs and intensifying international competition have affected exports, which fell by half last year, to only 184 thousand hectoliters. As a result of all this, the volume of beer brewed domestically by the five largest producers decreased by 3.3 percent in 2024, falling 33 thousand short of the annual five million hectoliters, the director said.

He added that the deterioration in the competitiveness of domestic production last year is also indicated by the significant increase in imports by 20 percent, which amounted to a total of 767 thousand hectoliters in 2024.

The proportion of super premium and premium beers in domestic sales stabilized, their combined turnover reaching 31.4 percent, totaling 1.742 million hectoliters. The mid-range category also performed stably, its 54 percent share was 2.993 million hectoliters, while the proportion of low-end products continued to decrease in 2024. The latter segment accounted for only 7.1 percent of the turnover of the five largest manufacturers last year, which meant the sale of 396 thousand hectoliters.

The turnover of non-alcoholic and low-alcohol products also showed growth again, with 427 thousand hectoliters, their share increasing to 8.1 percent within the total turnover, thanks to the 24 percent turnover growth of flavored non-alcoholic beers, which is presumably due to the continuous rise of health-conscious and responsible consumption – said Sándor Kántor.

The turnover of the most favorable packaging in terms of sustainability, keg packaging, was 394 thousand hectoliters in 2024, an increase of 2.1 percent, while the volume of beers sold in similarly environmentally friendly, refillable glass packaging only reached half of the 2018 value, only 725 thousand hectoliters.