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Due to the current curfew, a significant part of the New Year’s fireworks can remain on the neck of merchants. If the regulations do not change, there will be a total of three hours this year on New Years Eve for the use of pyrotechnic articles in public places. The narrowing of the allowed time frame will reduce the turnover in both the wholesale and retail trade, it is expected that half of the goods remain in warehouses and the demand at the points of sale may fall by a quarter, explains the World Economy .
According to an article in the economic newspaper, like many other actors, the control of the coronavirus epidemic has created a great vacuum in the management of pyrotechnic companies. At the wholesale level, a sector with a value of around two billion a year has basically two legs:
- lives on orders related to the organization of events during the year,
- and retail purchases at the end of the year.
The first represents 30 percent and the second 70 percent of its turnover. The ban on mass events, especially the lack of celebration on August 20, has hit professional shooters (around a hundred of them are in operation), but a much wider range will kick in on New Years Eve.
Last year, fireworks were sold in some seven hundred outlets (that is, typically in containers) across the country, mainly in the parking lots of multinational retail chains and, to a lesser extent, in private outlets. Many of them will be leaving this year, as maintaining the curfew will have a very negative impact on business.
The commercial director of one of the companies that leads the sale of pyrotechnic products in Hungary told World Economy that the basic problem is caused by the period of use. At home, individuals have been able to purchase fireworks legally since 2003, and hundreds of thousands will seize this opportunity by the end of the year. The relevant government decree names three categories: fireworks in the first and second categories can be used, owned and bought in stores that are open all year round. However, the third category, typically New Year’s Eve products, can only be purchased between December 28 and December 31 at points of sale. They can only be used from 6:00 p.m. on December 31 to 6:00 a.m. on January 1.
However, since at this time there is a curfew between 8 pm and 5 pm, this means that if legislators do not make a concession, there will only be three hours left this year for public dismissal.
(Top image: New Year’s Eve fireworks in Pécs garden district on January 1, 2020. Photo: Tamás Sóki / MTI)
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