Butter and margarine brands: the force is with them

By: Szalai László Date: 2025. 01. 29. 11:09

Both margarine and butter sales have decreased recently, albeit slower than before.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/12-01

The volume ratio of the two categories is around 80:20 in favour of margarine, which may be slightly affected by price movements. For instance sales have recently shifted towards butter, but it is now becoming more expensive again, so the ratio seems to be returning where it used to be.

Strong margarine brands with discounters dominating

In the margarine category the brands of Flora Food Hungary Kft. are outperforming the market decline, strengthening their leading position.

Zsolt Babják
head of sales
Flora Food Hungary

“The Hungarian margarine and melange market is characterised by larger product sizes (400-500g), and we don’t see any significant shift in this segment. As regards retail channels, discount supermarkets dominate and continue to conquer the category. Despite this trend consumers prefer manufacturer brands”,

informs Zsolt Babják, head of sales at Flora Food Hungary Kft.

He adds that good taste remains the most important factor in purchasing decisions, and the emphasis on naturalness is a basic expectation: the company’s portfolio reflects this, as more and more products are 100% plant-based. There are two peak periods during the year and from these Christmas is dominated by Rama baking margarine.

Delicious taste is the most important dimension in the consumer’s decision, and the emphasis on natural quality is a standard requirement

Premiumisation continues in the butter segment

Noémi Papp-Mile
brand manager
Foodnet

Foodnet is the distributor of Lurpak products.

“In the butter category we see a premiumisation trend and Lurpak’s position is strengthening month by month, with the biggest market share for the brand in the past decade. The key to our success is a well-planned promotion strategy and constant brand communication. With Lurpak we have been able to take things up a notch by entering discounter chains”,

says Foodnet Zrt.’s brand manager Noémi Papp-Mile.

Foodnet will put larger products on hypermarket shelves in the end-of-year peak period. //

Melting margarine market

According to the NIQ retail index, consumers bought nearly 27,000 tonnes of margarine for HUF 39bn between September 2023 and August 2024.

Guest writer:
Dominika Pataki
analytic insights associate
NIQ

Category sales fell by 13% in value and nearly 10% in volume compared to the same period last year, with a 3% drop in price levels. Manufacturer brands managed to increase their share by 1.5 percentage points to 80.5%.

Margarines sold in a tub continued to acquire market share, accounting for almost two thirds of sales, but their sales also declined in volume and value by around 10%.

Low-fat margarines managed to increase their share by about 0.5 percentage point, but light margarine sales also decreased – by 11% in value and 6% in volume.

Unsalted margarines lost some of their dominance to salted margarines, which now stand at more than 16%. //

Upfield becomes Flora

Upfield Magyarország Kft. has changed its name to Flora Food Hungary Kft. – the company is the Hungarian distributor of the well-known and popular Rama, Flora, Violife and Viodeli products. This step follows the holding company, Flora Food Group BV’s name change to Upfield Group BV in mid-September. “We are changing our company name to better reflect who we are and what we do. We believe that our new name, Flora better communicates our plant-based heritage and values, while Food says we are passionate about delicious food”, says head of sales Zsolt Babják. //