2024 to bring inevitable and brutal price hikes to Hungary

If anyone, we Hungarians know a thing or two about sudden price rises. Just when we thought we left the era of insane price increases in the past, it emerged that a further increase of up to 15% in the country at the beginning of 2024 is inevitable.

Logistics and transport in a rough situation

Logistics and transport were doing well during the Covid pandemic, due to optimal fuel prices and increasing consumption, in addition to the closures. According to Attila Katkics, logistics expert at SBS Cons., almost all market players recorded double-digit growth during this period, which provided opportunities for both development and expansion.

The industry’s success in 2022 was already cracking, thanks to the Russian-Ukrainian war. At the same time, industry players agree that consumption had not fallen dramatically. This, for a time, offset rising energy, fuel prices and logistical difficulties. The equilibrium then allowed firms to make an unprecedented price correction. However, it is now clear that rising costs and falling consumption have made a further price increase necessary.

15% price increase to fuel inflation

“It is inevitable that at the beginning of 2024, there will be another increase in the cost of freight transport, which could exceed 15%,” said Mr Katkics in the latest podcast of Economx. He pointed out that the price increase will not increase the extra profit of companies. Rather, it is purely to cover costs.