Hungary: the country of cheap beer, rich culture and great sights

Metro.co.uk has made an interesting inquiry into how much beer costs around the world. It turns out that beer is the cheapest in the EU, where Hungary placed third.

The journal based their article on the data gathered by Travelex from the Office for National Statistics. The data collected there refers to those countries where British people spend their holidays most. Europe is the leader from the point of view of cheap beer.

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Metro has provided a bit of comparison for their UK readers: per average, a pint costs £3.50 / 8.83 EUR there, which is three times more than it is in Bulgaria, where beer is the cheapest in Europe at the price of 1.02 EUR.

1. Bulgaria: 2.00лв / 1.02 EUR
2. Czech Republic: 30.00Kč / 1.14 EUR
3. Hungary: 350.00 Ft / 1.15 EUR
4. Mexico: Mex$25.00 / 1.19 EUR
5. Portugal: 1.50 EUR
6. Thailand: ฿60.00 / 1.53 EUR
7. South Africa: R 25.00 / 1.60 EUR
8. Poland: 7.00zł / 1.62 EUR
9. Jamaica: $250.00 / 1.67 EUR
10. Barbados: $4.00 / 1.70 EUR
11. Spain: 2 EUR

Hungarians sure do love beer. In 2016, the amount of beer consumed in Hungary equals to the amount of beer needed for 88 Oktoberfests: 6.1 million hectolitre beer was consumed. There was a 10 per cent increase in the amount of high quality, pricier premium beers sold compared to 2015, and a 3.6% fall back in the case of cheap beer sold, with barely any change regarding the situation of mid category beers. In 2015, most of the beer was consumed during the hot summer season, while in 2016 in the second quarter of the year, as the Hungarian football league participated in the European Championships.

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Elelmiszer.hu reports that over 6 million hectolitres of beer were produced in 2016 at Kőbánya, Bőcs, Martfű, Sopron, which is a 2.5% rise compared to 2015. The export also increased by 40%. However, the Hungarian beer producers find themselves in a difficult situation. Dr Attila Schillinger, the director of the Hungarian Association of Beer Producers argues that the heavy taxing and the low quality, cheap imported beer, along with the decrease of consumption have a negative effect on Hungarian producers.

Source: Travelex/ metro.co.uk / elelmiszer.hu