Restructuring in the hygiene paper category

Fighting for shelf space

Price competition within the category has become increasingly fierce, particularly due to the spreading of private label (PL) products. Half of toilet paper sales and two-thirds of moist toilet tissue sales are realised by PL products.

Fatime Bánkúti
marketing manager
Magyar Piszke Papír

“As a result of the crisis, the majority of consumers started frequenting discounter chains and this trend has continued into 2025”,

says Fatime Bánkúti, marketing manager of Magyar Piszke Papír Kft.

Although other retail channels are working tirelessly to win back lost customers, a significant proportion of them have remained loyal to discount supermarkets. This situation makes it difficult for small and medium-sized manufacturers to become suppliers of chains with a limited product range.

On the domestic market Magyar Piszke Papír Kft. is positioning itself with an innovative approach and environmentally friendly developments. In 2019 they were the first in Hungary to launch a toilet paper – Crepto – in a paper box, in plastic film-free packaging, containing the maximum number of sheets per unit volume.

Sustainable trends

Environmental considerations are becoming more important among hygiene products.

Gábor Vizur
category manager
Sofidel Hungary

“Manufacturers are looking for ways to curb packaging waste, raw material consumption and CO2 emissions from transportation”,

points out Gábor Vizur, category manager of Sofidel Hungary Kft.

New, high sheet number compact packs are popular, because they are practical and offer significant savings. Modern packaging is now 100% recyclable and contains at least 30-60% recycled plastic. In 2024 the Regina brand stayed on a growth path despite the market downturn. Their main focus is further increasing awareness of the Regina Delicate product range and promoting the Regina Never-ending 4-roll compact (4 = 13 rolls) product version. In the multipack category Metsa Tissue’s Tento Family delicate 32-roll, 3-ply toilet paper performed exceptionally well last year.

Conscious development and green directions

Dávid Papp
managing director
Planet Line

Planet Line is the distributor of the Violeta brand, sales of which have been growing in both value and volume in recent years. Both classic toilet papers and moist toilet tissues are showing positive sales trends.

Behind Violeta products there is a constant, conscious effort to innovate in the domains of product development and sustainable operations. The company’s manufacturing partner uses its own water base and heat pump system. They produce packaging materials in-house, utilising a growing proportion of recycled raw materials.

Dávid Fedor
marketing manager
Planet Line Hungary

Marketing manager Dávid Fedor informs that one of the pillars of their marketing activities is multichannel campaigns.

B+N Referencia Zrt.’s main profile is hygiene paper products for public institutions. “In recent years two key factors have had an influence in the segment: cost efficiency and ESG compliance. The latter is a particularly important requirement for multinational companies that have set carbon neutrality targets for 2030. The customers we serve typically want special, large-format products”, explains director of communications and PR Éva Szabó. In 2025 the company developed its private label range called HYGON, in collaboration with Magyar Piszke Papír, which includes products whose entire packaging – including the adhesive tape – is made from recycled paper, thus meeting the most stringent ESG requirements.