Romania’s 1H Long-Term Goods Mkt Dn 40.4% Y-Y, At EUR664M - Survey

The small domestic appliances and the telecommunication sectors fell by 22.1% and 25.8%, respectively, in the January-June period, while the sales of major domestic appliances had a better quarter but recorded a 37.1% semester downfall.

In the second quarter only, the small domestic appliances continued to lose ground, with sales down 27.6% compared with the same period a year ago, at EUR16 million.

The sector’s negative performance was fueled by the weak demand for approximately all the categories of important products. The vacuum cleaners, the epilators and shaving devices saw the most serious downfall among all the small domestic appliances.

According to GfK, the negative tendency reflects a solid fall as regards the people’s power of purchase, caused by the lower incomes and financial resources. In addition, the depreciation of the Romanian leu had a negative impact over the evolution of this market segment.

Meanwhile, the telecom market saw a 24.8% fall in Romania in the second quarter, at EUR55 million. The decline in sales within the smart and mobile phones sector continued until June. In addition, the lowering prices of the smart phones made them acceptable, offering thus the possibility to replace the classical phones, the study stated.

The segment of major domestic appliances reached EUR79 million in April-June period, following the negative trend of all the goods monitored by GfK in the survey.

The GfK analysts stated that the economic slowdown still has a major impact over the consumers’ demand for large home appliances.

The sales of long-term use electronic devices dropped in the second quarter by around 50%, at EUR52 million, touching a peak in June, when the LCDs and plasma TVs recorded significant falls in sales.

The camera market also recorded a negative evolution in Romania in the second quarter, with an around 44% downfall, compared with the same period a year earlier, at EUR9 million. However, compared with the first quarter, the digital cameras’ sales rose by EUR2 million.

Romania’s IT sector saw a 59.2% fall on the year in April-June, at EUR87 million, mainly due to the lowering volume of sales and, partially, to the decrease of the average price, especially for the laptops. The desktop computers and the monitors were the most affected products in the second quarter, the survey stated.

GfK Romania is a market researching institute with a turnover of EUR9.1 million in 2008.

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