Pepsi Bottling Returns to Hungary after Eight Years

Pepsi soft drinks have been bottled for the Hungarian market in Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania, but this will change from 2024. Levente Balogh, president of Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft., which produces mineral water, has announced that Pepsi will move back to Hungary next year, reports Világgazdaság.

The bottling of Pepsi products was phased out in 2015 in Hungary, and rumors had already started spreading this year that it could return to the Central European country, but now it has been confirmed.

Pepsi’s Hungarian interests were acquired by Central Europe Mineral Water Holding (CEMW) in 2018, which became the exclusive Hungarian distributor of soft drinks and food products and the holder of the franchise rights. The holding company was founded in 2015, by Hungarian billionaire Levente Balogh with the Italian Pasquale family, who own the Mattoni 1873 group, and following the transaction the Hungarian businessman became a significant minority shareholder and has since held the position of chairman. Under the terms of the agreement, Szentkirályi Ásványvíz Kft., a famous Hungarian mineral water producing company, where Balogh is co-owner, was merged into CEMW.

In relation to the announcement regarding Pepsi, a new high-performance PET bottling line of Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. was inaugurated on Friday.

The HUF 2.8 billion (EUR 7.5 million) investment was built as the first phase of the company’s five-year development program. The program, launched in 2022, amounts to a total of HUF 10 billion, with one of the key objectives being the transition to a circular economy. It is partly thanks to this investment that the company will be able to bottle Pepsi products in Hungary from next year.

Balogh told Világgazdaság that the new machine, which can also bottle mineral water and soft drinks, costs 20 to 30 percent more than a machine that can only fill mineral water because of its acid content.

We bought the more expensive equipment because we want to bring Pepsi production home,”

he emphasized. As a result, from next year Pepsi will be made from water from Szentkirály, a Hungarian village south of Budapest, and the investment will save the company considerable transport costs and travel time.

The chairman of Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. also said that

further expansions were being prepared to strengthen Szentkirályi as a strategically important national company.

Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft.’s predecessor, Szentkirályi Kft., was founded in 2003, and has been managed by Balogh as managing director and owner, since then. Szentkirályi Magyarország Kft. was established in 2019, by Balogh and the Pasquale family. The brand is best known for its mineral water, and lately, the company has divulged into the cosmetics sector as well with the Vízangyal (Water Angel) beauty product line.

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