Sales of durable goods fell 2 percent in the first quarter to EUR 700 million

Aurel Dragan 08/05/2019 | 14:11

Romanian durable market recorded a value of EUR 700 million in the first quarter of the year, down 2 percent compared to the same period of 2018. Several categories contributed to this evolution, but the most significant declines came from telecoms and IT, 43 percent respectively 14 percent of the total market value in Q1 2019, according to GfK Temax data.

The telecom sector dropped 4.5 percent to EUR 301 million and electronics sector with a 15 percent share of market value, also entered the negative territory, with a decline of nearly 1 percent to EUR 106 million.

Large household appliances sales (18 percent of market value) increased by more than 11 percent to EUR 128 million euros. Small appliances (7 percent of total market value) increased their sales by almost 4 percent to EUR 52 million.

The IT sector totals EUR 101 million in the first quarter, almost 10 percent less than in the same period last year.

Office equipment and cameras, each accounting for almost 1 percent of the total market, recorded negative developments of -4.5 percent (up to EUR 8 million) and more than -11 percent (up to 4 million).

Telecom

The telecom market includes mobile and smartphones, phablets (smart phones with screens larger than 5.6 inches), headphones for phones and core wearables, such as smart clocks, Fitbit.

The category that marks the negative evolution of the entire sector is that of mobile phones that diminish their value at high speed. A decrease of over 74 percent compared to the same quarter of 2018 brought sales to EUR 53 million.

The rise of phablets has failed to offset the trend, even if their growth rate was over 146 percent to a value of EUR 231 million.

The headphones also scored a good performance, over 17 percent, to EUR 8 million, while core wearable sales increased by over 52 percent, up to EUR 8 million.

Large home appliances

In this sector, laundry dryers are the ones that continue the very good evolution of last year. In Q1, the category grew by almost 35 percent to EUR 3 million. Although it is a small category, it will follow the European-wide growth trend.

Refrigerators, the second largest in this sector, increased their sales by 15.5 percent to EUR 32 million. There are freezers, with an increase of over 14 percent, but only EUR 5 million in absolute value.

The highest category in terms of value, washing machines, reached EUR 40 million in the first quarter, representing an increase of over 14 percent compared to Q1 2018.

The cookers had sales of EUR 21 million, more than 2 percent more than in the first three months of last year.

Like laundry dryers, dishwashers are on an upward trend. The category posted a plus of 13.5 percent, reaching sales of EUR 7 million in the first quarter of 2019. Microwave sales rose 8.5 percent to EUR 4 million.

The only negative trend category was hotelier, with a 1 percent drop, to EUR 5 million.

Electronic

The most important category in this sector, television sets, recorded a plus of over 2 percent, reaching a value of EUR 92 million.

Very good results are also noted for speakers and audio systems, whose sales grew by almost 9 percent and 8 percent respectively, up to a value of EUR 2 million each.

The rest of the categories, however, have a negative impact on the overall performance of the sector. The headset market dropped 15.5 percent to EUR 0.69 million, while camcorders reached less than EUR 1 million euros after a drop in sales of nearly 33 percent.

IT

Nearly all categories in this sector had a negative evolution in the first quarter of this year. The only exceptions were monitors, with an increase of 12.5 percent, up to EUR 10 million and webcams, with an increase of more than 3 percent, up to EUR 2 million.

The sharpest decline, nearly 26 percent, was recorded by computers, whose sales reached EUR 17 million. Tablets are also down, with sales of EUR 10 million, down 16.5 percent compared to Q1 2018. Laptop sales have fallen by 7 percent, reaching a value of EUR 55 million.

Small Appliances

The most important category in this sector, that of vacuum cleaners (28 percent value value), rose by 17 percent, reaching EUR 15 million. Another important category, that of coffee machines, rose by more than 26 percent, reaching a value of EUR 10 million euros. Shaving / wiping devices also scored a good 16 percent plus up to EUR 6 million.

Other growing categories are hair dryers, with an increase of over 9 percent and 2 million euros in absolute sales, and the beaters, with a plus of 14.5 percent, up to EUR 4 million.

The small household appliances industry has several stars, new categories with a very good evolution. These are vertical steam ironing machines, which almost doubled sales (+ 93 percent) in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 2018, although the absolute value is still low, EUR 0.8 million.

In the negative register we have fruit juices, 35 percent lower, and mincers, with sales declining by 11.5 percent and an absolute value of EUR 2 million euros. Cooking stations (multicooker) had sales of EUR 7 million, almost 11 percent less than in the first three months of last year.

Office equipment

The sector includes printers and multifunctionals, with 4.5 percent less sales than T1 2018, up to EUR 8 million.

Photo

Digital cameras continue to lose ground in front of smart phones with more and more efficient cameras. Thus, the category fell by more than 11 percent, to EUR 4 million.

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