2007

Book turnover in Hungary in 2007

(at consumer prices)

The turnover of the book trade amounted to 66,915,287,000 HUF in 2007.

(Registered turnover in 2006 amounted to 65,533,324,000 HUF, meaning that last year's increase was 2.11 %, that is 6 % less than the official inflation rate for 2007.)

The 2007 turnover of the 170 market leading publishers supplying data amounted to 60,258,287,000 HUF.

The turnover from imported books was 4,857,000,000 HUF.

The turnover of publishers not supplying data or only publishing a small number of books, respectively, is estimated at 800,000,000 HUF.

The discount turnover of false half-priced books is estimated at 1,000,000,000 HUF.

Total turnover in 2007: 66,915,287,000 HUF

Book turnover by category

1. The share of popular science books within the book trade showed a significant increase of nearly 9.6 %, producing a turnover of 17,378,735,000 HUF,and has thus again become the strongest publishing segment after four years, accounting for 25.97 % of the sector's total turnover. (The total turnover of popular science books in 2006 was 15,894,277,000 HUF, accounting for 24.3 of the sector's turnover.)

2. The market for public education books and language teaching books has become somewhat smaller last year, producing a turnover of 16,630,436,000 HUF, or 24.85 % of the sector's total turnover. (In 2006, the segment's turnover amounted to 17,313,120,000 HUF, or 26.4 %, which means that in 2007 the market for books used in public education decreased by nearly 4 % as compared to the preceding year.)

3. After a decrease in the year before last, which has proven to be of temporary nature, 2007 was an outstanding year in the fiction segment. The turnover of books to be subsumed under the category of belles-lettres increased by more than 2,000,000,000 HUF as compared to 2006, producing a turnover of 12,917,020,000 HUF and a market share of 19.3 %, which is almost unparalleled in Europe. (A look at the 2006 turnover of fiction amounting to 10,869,046,000 HUF and corresponding to 16.7 % of the sector total shows the pace of growth.)

4. In the segment of specialist books, academic books, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other publications used in higher education, the dramatic loss of market encountered for four years now continued in 2007. Turnover in this segment only amounted to 8,539,547,000 HUF, or 12.7 % of the sector total. (In 2006, the segment produced a turnover of 9,129,330,000 HUF, accounting for 14 % of the sector turnover. The continuous decrease in the publishing segment which is the largest by the number of titles is clearly visible from the fact that the turnover of publications used in higher education has decreased by more than 3,000,000,000 HUF over the past four years!)

5. Regrettably, the turnover and market share of children's and juvenile books decreased as well, with a registered turnover of 6,576,161,000 HUF and a share of 9.8 % within the whole of the sector. (In 2006, the segment had a turnover of 7,735,809,000 HUF and a share of 11.8 % of the sector total.)

Sales of imported books increased significantly again in 2007: by nearly 8 %. With sales amounting to 4,857,000,000 HUF, foreign language books imported from abroad accounted for 7.26 % of the sector turnover last year. (In 2006, the turnover of imported books was 4,520,000,000 HUF, corresponding to 6.9 % of the sector total.)

2007 saw a further increase of the market for CDs, CD-ROMs and the increasingly popular audiobooks, producing a joint turnover of 4,872,387,000 HUF and achieving 7.28 % of the sector total, representing an increase of more than 8 % as compared to the 2006 turnover of 4,501,742,000 HUF, then equalling a market share of 6.9 %. (The largest portion of the 2007 turnover is accounted for by discs containing databases; the turnover from audiobooks amounting to 342,000,000 HUF only represents 0.5 % of the sector total.)

The market for false half-priced books continued to decrease last year, accounting for 1.49 % of the sector total.

There were no significant changes with regard to the concentration in the publishing sector last year.

In 2007, 13 companies produced 57.2 % of the total publisher turnover,

25 companies produced 68.6 % of the total turnover,

47 companies produced 85.5 % of the total turnover, and

170 publishers produced 90.0 % of the total turnover.

The market share of foreign-owned publishing companies in Hungary has increased significantly-due to the purchase of Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó. With a turnover of 20,134,717,000 HUF, these entities accounted for 30 % of the sector total last year. (The year before their turnover amounted to 16,094,954,000 HUF, representing a market share of 24.6 %.)