Mineral waters going greener

András Palkó
marketing operations manager
Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország

According to András Palkó, marketing operations manager of Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország, mineral water volume sales were up 4.6 percent in 2019 and value sales augmented by 7.2 percent in the first two months of 2020.

Van der Wildt Nikolett
marketing director
Szentkirályi Magyarország

Nikolett Van der Wildt, marketing director of Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. added that value sales of both plain and flavoured mineral waters improved in 2019, and in the first two months of 2020 volume sales also started to grow. Szentkirályi Magyarország’s natural mineral water market share is more than one third in volume.

In 2019 Magyarvíz Kft.’s value sales rose by 4 percent and in the 1st quarter of 2020 sales were up 5 percent – informed marketing manager Krisztina Kozák. Sales in February-March 2020 were extraordinary.

Adrienn Horváth
marketing director
Márka Üdítőgyártó

Márka Üdítőgyártó Kft. has two mineral water wells in Felsőlajos, where they bottle soft drinks and flavoured mineral waters. In 2019 their flavoured water sales soared by 30 percent. 2020 brought the beginning of a new era for the company: they started making the private label flavoured waters of two multinational discounters – we learned from marketing director Adrienn Horváth.

Balogh Zsóka
marketing manager
In-Food 2000

Zsóka Balogh, marketing manager of In-Food 2000 Kft. talked to Trade magazin about the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the category – on-the-go and HoReCa consumption dropped considerably in the 1st quarter. However, as people are stockpiling, 1-litre and 1.5-litre products are selling above expectations.

László Regőczi, managing director of Primus Ásványvíz revealed that the biggest buyers of their premium mineral water Primus are in China, especially around Shanghai. Consequently, the company was unable to fulfil its contracts due to the pandemic.

Krisztina Kozák
marketing manager
Magyarvíz

Magyarvíz Kft.’s experience is that still mineral waters are the most popular, as they have a 48-percent market share; fizzy ones are at 39 percent and flavoured waters have a 12-percent market share. Márka Üdítőgyártó Kft.’s Márka Dinamica still mineral waters are available in rather exotic flavours. Sparkling Mozaik mineral waters are marketed in more classic flavours such as lemon, elder and raspberry.

László Regőczi
managing director
Primus Ásványvíz

Primus Ásványvíz markets Primus mineral water exactly as nature has preserved it throughout 17,400 years, the product isn’t carbonated.

Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. found that the only retail channel where natural mineral water volume sales increased in 2019 was discount supermarkets. Independent shops have managed to retain their share in sales. The significance of private label products is decreasing year by year. In flavoured mineral water sales single flavours are more popular than combinations. Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország reported that more and more product manufacturers are making a growing selection of products available in the market; new products tend to make their debut in small independent shops. The company’s experience is that functional waters are very popular.

Gábor Halász
brand manager
Maspex Olympos

Apenta+ 750ml functional drinks are now available in 6 versions. Apenta+ POWER-C with 1000mg vitamin C/bottle was launched this year, together with Apenta+ BODY. Gábor Halász, brand manager of Maspex Olympos Kft. told: Apenta Vitamixx product sales soared in the flavoured mineral water market last year. Primus Ásványvíz: the 0.5-litre format is the most popular Primus mineral water in overseas, while in Hungary the 1.5-litre variant is also chosen by many shoppers. In Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország’s NaturAqua range the flagship product has remained still mineral water – in both PET and glass bottle packaging. Last year glass bottle waters got a new design and grew from 0.25-litre to 0.33-litre.

In 2019 the engine of growth for Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. was the relaunched Emese mineral water. As the popularity of 0.5-lite products is growing, the company concentrates on these more and more. From In-Food 2000 Kft.’s portfolio the volume sales of 1.5-litre Vöslauer waters are the highest. Márka’s main business line is sparkling soft drinks, but sales of their still products are developing dynamically year by year, e.g. fruit drinks and ice teas.

Since the end of March Coca-Cola’s Aquarius functional water has been available in shops, in two still versions: lemon and zinc and orange and magnesium. March also brought the market debut of premium mineral water Römerquelle, which supports circular waste management. All of the PET bottles the company markets in Hungary are 100-percent recyclable. During the COVID-19 pandemic the majority of the company’s marketing budget is used for giving a helping hand – they don’t do commercial advertising at these difficult times.

Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft.’s experts keep monitoring the trends and searching for innovation opportunities. Since February Magnesia RED flavoured mineral waters can be found on store shelves in four fruit flavours. Márka Üdítőgyártó Kft. is busy repositioning Márka sparkling flavoured waters by the summer of 2020 – this involves a new bottle and label design and a new brand name: in the future shoppers will find the three classic flavours in stores under the Mirror brand name.

Krisztina Kozák called attention to the fact that climate protection and greener products have become important in recent years. This is the reason why Magyarvíz is putting green messages on the labels of Mizse mineral water bottles. In-Food 2000 Kft.’s Vöslauer brand was the first to put a 100-percent recycled bottle still mineral water on the market. Now all Vöslauer products are marketed in 100-percent recycled rePET bottles. Primus Ásványvíz never stops innovating either; this work mainly covers the field of production processes, but they are also more and more active in the domains of online applications and special packaging designs. //

Evian conquers the hearts of children too

Evian spring water travels and purifies for 15 years across the nature reserve of the French Alps. Thanks to this the product has a mineral content that not only quenches thirst, but also perfectly hydrates the skin. This spring 0.33-litre Evian natural mineral waters – children’s favourites – are given a new look that features popular Disney characters. Evian takes the water intake of the little ones very seriously, as 59 percent of children don’t drink enough water. Naturally, pure Evian mineral water contains just the right amount and composition of minerals. //

More than one billion litres of mineral water sold in shops

Zsófia Vörösmarty- Horváth
research consultant
Nielsen Market Research

Between March 2019 and February 2020 mineral water sales almost reached HUF 79 billion in value – sales grew by 5 percent. Hungarians bought more than 1 billion litres of mineral water in stores in the examined period. Still mineral water has remained the most popular, and its sales increased further by 9 percent in value, to reach a 56-percent market share. As regards size, the 1-1.9-litre format is the most popular.

The market share of manufacturer brands was above 71 percent and sales of these products augmented by nearly 7 percent in value. Stores with a floor space between 401m² and 2,500m² realised 47 percent of value sales – the channel’s weight in sales rose by 2 percentage points. Hungarians spend more than 80 percent of their mineral water budget on natural products; among flavoured variants, lemon is the most popular, with a 4-percent value share in sales. //

Not carbonated enough to be fizzy, too bubbly to be still?

Kriszta Bodnár
business development
manager, GfK

In 2018 the mineral water market had come to a halt and 2019 only brought minimal growth in volume sales, while value sale were up 10 percent. One third of sales are realised in discount supermarkets. Sales of branded products grew more in both discount stores and supermarkets than private label mineral water sales – in both value and volume. Last year 94 percent of households purchased the category minimum once.

Sales of mildly carbonated soft drinks dropped 10 percent from the 2018 and level and plunged by 25 percent if compared with 2017. Still and fizzy mineral water value sales augmented by approximately 10 percent. Unflavoured mineral water sales grew in the discounter channel, while sales of flavoured waters increased in hypermarkets, by 20 percent if compared with 2018. //