Magazine: Yogurts make us healthier!

In a pandemic situation

Nóra Csuti
marketing director
Danone Hungary

The COVID-19 situation strengthened a couple of existing trends and brought some new ones. Nóra Csuti, marketing director of Danone Hungary told: staying healthy and having a balanced diet became a priority for many people. Yogurts can play a central role in this, especially the products fortified with vitamins D and C, calcium and fibres – together with low-sugar yogurts. Demand is on the rise for plain yogurts and it is growing even faster for plant-based products. Multipacks and large-sized products are very popular.

Éva Gereczné
Rudnai
purchasing manager
Real Nature

According to Éva Gereczné Rudnai, purchasing manager of Real Nature Kft., yogurt ingredient prices went up because of the pandemic, but the company decided not to increase product prices, taking into consideration the monthly FMCG budget of Hungarian households and staying true to the company’s mission of popularising healthy eating.

They stay on the premium path

The conquest of dairy substitutes seems to be unstoppable. Danone’s Alpro brand is following suit with its growing number of brands. A good example of this is the Alpro Barista range. Reacting to the trend of more and more people cooking at home, the company is relaunching the Danone 20% sour cream. Ms Csuti told that the Alpro brand is market leader in the plant-based category, while the Actimel brand is No.1 in the yogurt ‘shots’ category. The new innovation in the latter is a product range fortified with vitamin C. In the so-called indulgence segment Danone is present with the Oikos brand, which is now also available in 4 new fruit flavours, in 2-compartment plastic pots.

Body and soul in the spotlight

As far as Real Nature is concerned, the yogurt drink market keeps developing, in part because new innovations tend to be healthy products. Éva Gereczné Rudnai told our magazine that a large proportion of Hungarians are struggling with weight problems and the company is trying to help them by reducing the sugar content of Good Milk products. Currently Real Nature is busy developing Real Nature yogurt drinks, which will soon appear on store shelves. Being an innovative company, Real Nature firmly believes that it can contribute to the physical and mental health of Hungarians with its innovations. In accordance with this philosophy, the company also support the similar efforts of retail chains. For instance they welcome the design transformations in stores, thanks to which healthy products are more noticeable.

Health even in the spoons

Gábor Szommer
sales and purchasing
director
FINO-FOOD

The yogurt drink market expanded, while that of classic, so-called spoon yogurts contracted in 2020 – informed Zsuzsa Hunwald, brand and trade marketing manager of Lactalis Hungária Kft. In line with this trend, sales of the Parmalat Yogurt Drinks distributed by the company also increased. Ms Hunwald added that despite the decrease, the majority of the market still belongs to spoon yogurts. In 2021 Parmalat Dolce Layered Cream Yogurt entered this segment, which contains no added sugar or preservatives.

Gábor Szommer, sales and purchasing director of FINO-FOOD Kft. said: the pandemic increased demand for high-quality products. FINO’s high fruit content, low-sugar yogurts are the perfect choice for shoppers in search of quality products. Every week 55,000 children enjoy the company’s premium fruit yogurts in the Southern Transdanubia region, within the framework of the School Milk programme. //