Hungarian Poultry
Domestic and Export Markets

The Domestic Market
Image The characteristic features of domestic meat consumption are fundamentally determined by falling living standards and a decrease in the solvent demand of the general public. During recent years, the proportion of poultry in domestic meat consumption has risen comparatively in quantitative terms. Since the mid and late 1 980s Hungary's total meat consumption has fallen, but poultry consumption levels have remained more or less unchanged.

The Hungarian per capita consumption of 22-23 kilos annually is outstanding even by international comparison. The Hungarian level of consumption equals the French, British and Spanish levels and is higher than the EU average of 18.8 kilos per capita.

Approximately 55% of Hungary's domestic poultry turnover is supplied by large slaughter houses in the form of processed end products. The remainder is constituted partly by the projected value of natural consumption (backyard farming), and partly by the output of smaller local plants working exclusively for the domestic market.
Image Within the structure of food consumption an increasing proportion of animal protein is being provided by eggs produced for direct human consumption, which obviously comes within the product range of the poultry sector. The per capita domestic consumption of eggs produced for direct human consumption is 350-360 items annually, a figure which is among the highest in Europe. In contrast to other types of product, nearly two-fifths of such eggs are supplied by private producers and are subject to own consumption. The country's supply of eggs has been steady for decades, apart from small periodical fluctuations.

The Hungarian consumer - as in many other countries in the world - habitually eats more chicken than any other kind of poultry. By international comparison, Hungarian domestic demand for turkey is still relatively below the international norm, but it is on the rise. Goose is a very 'Hungarian' poultry breed, with relatively high levels of consumption in Hungary. The same applies to duck, though to a lesser degree.

Hungary's domestic poultry trading is dominated by the same companies and plants which produce the bulk of Hungarian exports. The sale of processed poultry products in the domestic market is channelled along three major routes:

  • Slaughter houses sell in shops in their complete or partial ownership.

  • Processing plants - acting as wholesalers - directly satisfy the orders of retail units.

  • Goods are received by an organisation carrying out wholesale functions (among other things) on a contractual basis (the role of this type of arrangement is increasing). A few years ago, the Budapesti Baromfinagykereskedelmi Rt. (Budapest Poultry Wholesale Ltd.) would have been the only company to come under this category; now the number has increased significantly, including chains of stores carrying out a wholesale function, such as METRO, ALFA, SPAR, CORA, etc.

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