Beyond milk

There are great opportunities on the market of special dairy products and on the milk substitute market because at the moment few products are available, while the number of people with milk intolerance is growing.

Emese Paragi, brand manager with Sole-Mizo Zrt. opined that the biggest problem in the sector was the growing price of base material. Under the company’s Mizo brand they produce lactose-free UHT milk, and Mizo Biofarm UHT milks with 1.5% and 2.8% fat content, which are all controlled by Biokontroll Hungária Nonprofit Kft. Last year Sole-Mizo Zrt. developed its organic cheese range that is distributed under the Biofarm brand. According to Bernadett Kátai-Strasser, owner-managing director of MONA Hungary the world trend is that the milk and dairy product market is becoming more functional, consumers want to buy GMO-free products, and products with added calcium, vitamin D and B. This is the reason why MONA Hungary appeared in shops with sugar- and fat-free Fasten yoghurts and now comes out with ProX cholesterol-lowering probiotic yoghurt drinks. Soon the share of special products in their portfolio will reach 10 percent. The company’s experience is that in certain categories extra sales can be generated if prices are positioned one level lower, e.g. this is true in the case of probiotic yoghurts. But in order not to ruins the brand’s image, MONA Hungary did not simply lower its price per packaging unit, instead they replaced the 4X100 unit with a 6X125 pack. This way they lowered the price per litre and generated extras sales too. This year the company radically changes its marketing communication: instead of media campaigns they concentrate on the Internet, their brands will only communicate with consumers via their own websites and promotion campaigns will also be implemented here. Soy, rice and oat drinks constitute an alternative to those who are sensitive to milk products. Estimation is that about one quarter of Hungary’s population suffers from this problem. In 2007 per capita soy drink consumption in Hungary was 410 ml – half of the EU’s average. Barbara Mészáros, commercial director of Real Nature Kft. told our magazine that in developed countries about five times more soy products are consumed than in Hungary. 2010 brought a bit of a change though: thanks to targeted innovation and to more consumers starting to live healthy, milk substitute (including soy) sales expanded by 5 percent on a shrinking FMCG market. Real Nature’s leading brand is Joya. Their products are made exclusively from NGO-free Austrian soybeans and are also cholesterol-, lactose- and gluten-free. In 2011 the company will repackage the whole product family and launch new flavours and product groups. Real Nature only deals with healthy products and marketing-wise they are preparing to promote sales with unusual ideas.