Vodka sales grew, pálinka sales dropped

Combined retail sales of the nine spirit categories amounted to more than HUF 40 billion in the December 2013-July 2014 period. Compared with the same period a year before, liqueur value sales increased the most (by 14 percent) but vodka and whisky value sales also rose (by 10-10 percent). As for volume sales, liqueur, vodka and whisky sales improved the most, by 12, 6 and 5 percent, respectively. Until about 5 years ago pálinka was the best-selling spirit in Hungarian grocery retail, but the changes in excise duty regulation in 2010 allowed the home distilling of pálinka for own consumption for a quantity of 50 litres a year, and at the same time the excise duty on commercial spirits increased very much. These changes made many distillers manufacture commercial products from vodka, e.g. formerly 37.5-percent abv plum pálinka now classifies as vodka in Nielsen audits because of this. Consequently, vodka became the biggest spirit category with HUF 14-billion sales. Bitter sales neared HUF 10 billion and pálinka sales only valued at a bit more than HUF 5 billion. Stores with a floor space of 400m² and below sold 2 percentage points more vodka and 1 percentage point more bitter than in the base period. 50m²and smaller shops sold 1 percentage point more vodka and bitter. The market position of stores bigger than 2,500m² weakened and that of the 401-2,500m² channel strengthened. Private label spirits’ value share exceeded 17 percent in the examined period.