Christmas Shopping Helps Retail Trade to New Record

Hungarian retailers are likely close the year with record sales: the December consumption of the population was expected to reach HUF 1,200 billion, well above predictions, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The last weekend before Christmas saw bigger crowds in shopping malls, markets and Advent fairs than ever before. The parking lot of one store even had to be closed because there was no room for more buyers. The record performance also surprised the market players.

György Vámos, Secretary General of the National Trade Association, told the daily ‘Magyar Nemzet’ he was certain that following the HUF 1,141 billion spending in December of the previous year, household spending would exceed HUF 1,200 billion in December 2019.

Whilst it was previously estimated that Hungarians would spend only HUF 100 billion on gifts this year, it now seems that the December spending would come to at least HUF 110-120 billion.