Despite expected difficulties in the Hungarian marked, due to prospects of a sharp drop in external demand and ongoing fiscal tightening measures, foreign retailers have remained interested in the country’s potential in the discount sector. In February 2008, German discounter Aldi announced that it will open its first Hungarian store in April this year. Shortly afterwards, in April 2008, Austrian retailer Spar reached an agreement with Germany's Tengelmann to acquire its Plus discount chain in Hungary, the operations of which need to be turned around following months of underperformance. Finally, one of top domestic retailers, CBA, announced its plans to open 16 new stores in 2008, with 10 of these openings scheduled for the first half of the year.

Similarly, the country’s food and drinks sector also continues to show a considerable amount of dynamism. In April 2008, Coca-Cola Beverages Hungary (CCBH) announced an opening of a new production line at its plant in Hungary, which will help significantly boost capacity at the plant which produces preservatives-free ice teas, fruit-based refreshments and juices. This is just the latest investment by CCBH, which will now no longer have to import these drinks from the group's Polish arm. With this latest investment, CCBH is now well positioned to become a major exporter to other regional markets and is anticipating exports of HUF10bn (US$62.4mn) this year alone. In the meantime, Hungarian companies are continuing to expand abroad. In March 2008, Hungarian bakery firm Fornetti Groupe announced a EUR1mn (US$1.57mn) investment through its Macedonian branch to build a distribution centre and cooling facility for frozen bakery goods in the capital Skopje. According to local press reports, this is the first step in a broader expansion strategy which includes plans to establish a production facility in line with EU standards, which is expected to launch full production within two years.

In terms of its regional attractiveness, as measured by BMI’s Food and Drink Business Environment Ranking Hungary receives an extremely high score for its food and drink market, due to the very strong – and rising – spending levels of Hungarian consumers. In the forecast period, Hungarian consumers are expected to trade up to more premium products, thereby garnering it a top score for the country for this indicator. Hungary also scores very well on risks to realisation of potential returns, with its stable economy and attractive business environment, thus ranking first in the table surveying 14 markets in the region.