A survey conducted by market researchers Sonda Ipsos has found that 52% of Hungarians choose Hungarian products if they can, 40% decide their choice based on the particular product in question and the remaining 8% are generally impartial about their product’s origins, reports Napi Világgazdaság. This preferential treatment is the strongest when it comes to meat and dairy products (such as the Tűró Rudi pictured), fruit and vegetables. As a result of the global economic crisis, 20% of those asked choose to buy Hungarian products more often, 69% have not changed their shopping preferences and only 11% buy fewer Hungarian products. The motivation behind this shift is unclear as Hungarian products are rarely significantly cheaper than those imported, particularly from within the EU.
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Economic crisis strengthens customer support for Hungarian products
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Comments [11]
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We try to buy as many Hungarian products as possible, also taking some things with us to Germany not only for us, but also for our German friends. Typical products are: Wine of course, honey, the famous tökmagolaj, piros arany, tüskeszentpeter liszt (my wife doesn’t use any other), erös pista, dried beans and so on.
On the other hand we bring some products from Germany, not only because sometimes they are better, but mainly because they are much cheaper like butter and cheese.
This is something I’ve been wondering about for some time. Why are butter, cheese and also icecream almost twice as expensive here in Hungary ?
Anybody has an answer ?
@wolfi: I often ask myself the same question. I, too, try to buy Hungarian but sometimes the local products are more expensive. At one point I thought it would be cool to own a pair of Tisza shoes; they were a big deal before the fall of communism. Well, turns out not only are they super ugly, but they cost more than the int’l brands. Same goes for Schwinn-Csepel bicycles, etc.
@wolfi, I think you don’t need look much further
than EU farm subsidies as to why German dairy
products are cheaper than Hungarian. Not to mention
that German production is probably a damn sight more
efficient (although that may be balanced out by low
labour costs in Hungary.)
Still, there’s always “Reggeli Ital” if you want to
go cheap and nasty.
What’s that about Tisza shoes. They ain’t ugly…
You probably just getting old Jules
@Benny:
Shouldn’t Hungarian farmers then get the same subsidies ?
And more, why don’t the (mostly German-owned) supermarkets import those cheap products from over there ?
When 250g butter cost the consumer 1 € in Germany (so the net price that the supermarket pays must be much lower) and are sold for 500 HUF here the cost of transport could be neglected…
I still don’t get it.
@wolfi, you’ve got a point. Aldi has lots of German
(or rather Austrian) dairy products but otherwise I
also don’t know. Now and again one sees milk from
neighbouring countries on the shelves of ABCs but
not too often. I’m curious about that now…
I’d say much of the reason has to do with scale. Producers here tend to be much smaller, and below a certain size it’s hard to compete internationally. This is certainly the case with wine – many of the countries that Hungary is supposed to be competing with have estates/cooperatives that are 100x the size of the average commercial Hungarian winegrower.
@Erik: Yes it’s true, these large winegrowers can offer you a standardised product. If you tried it once and liked it you’ll come back to it. That is difficult to do here in Hungary.
We’ve often been to restaurants around Heviz and asked for dry table wine (red for my wife, white for me) and sometimes been very disappointed, especially with the red, the white usually is not a problem.
On the other hand I buy wine from my neighbours – some of them do a very nice dry chardonnay. I’ve already tried the new wine, this year promises to be very good. So for Christman we’ll bring about 60 or 70 liters in cannnisters to my German friends and family…
@wolfi, Hungarian farmers do not get the same
subsidies as Germans. Because the germans, french,
irish, English etc were first to the table, they eat
the best!
@Benny: “Because the germans, french,
irish, English etc were first to the table, they eat
the best!” A rather incomplete metaphor, wouldn’t
you say… because they are actually PAYING for the
dinner.
Its a matter of filling out forms and making requests for farm subsidies etc. Hungarian farmers grow acres of corn/kukorica and little else. Hungarian wines are generally very good and not expensive. I buy my pork and beef from a local shop/bolt. The pig farm is next door. Delicious meat and not expensive. Sometimes they also do a nice beef/marhahus selection as well.
Japanese buy lots of Hungarian wines.
The general malaise in Hungary at the moment is not just down to the world financial crisis. Poor government, woeful local administration, corruption,shitloads of bureaucratic nonsense
and high taxes all contribute to the beteg/sick patient known as Magyarorszag/Hungary.
Cheap and inferior imports swamp the Hungarian market and we, the consumers, love it? Just see the hordes in Tesco on Mondays and Saturdays.
PS. Wolfi. Happy “Christman”? sic.
@Erik, you’re right… I know the Germans are the
biggest net contributor country in the EU whereas
the new entrants are net beneficiaries. Still,
without checking the figures I’m pretty sure that
when it comes to farm subsidies (or specifically the
Common Agricultural Policy) the original EU entrants
get a much better deal than the new entrants. I
expect countries like Hungary are net beneficiaries
in infrastructural areas.