Who Are the Consumers of Certain Fish Species in Hungary?

Temesi, Ágoston – Palotás, Péter – Plasek, Brigitta

Keywords: consumers of fish species, saltwater and freshwater fishes, fish consumption, consumer survey, consumers’ lack of knowledge, Q13

Hungary’s fish consumption is significantly below the European Union average. To understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, it may be helpful to examine the groups of consumers for the various fish types. Using consumer survey methods, structured personal interviews were conducted with 1063 respondents about ten fish species. The survey found carp and hake to be the most widely consumed types of fish, with barramundi lagging behind, despite some major marketing communication campaigns aimed at its popularisation. Our results show that the main consumers of pangasius are women, while men tend to prefer carp and bream. Salmon and trout are rather choices of the younger generations, whereas the elderly give preference to carp. As to salmon and hake, some regional differences were also observed, showing them to be more popular in Western Transdanubia and Central Hungary than in the eastern half of the country. Generally speaking, the consumption frequency of all ten types of fish was found to be greater among people with higher incomes. Finally, we examined consumers’ knowledge about the habitat of the individual species. Our results show that this knowledge is frequently insufficient or incorrect.

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