The analysts of market research company PMR expect grocery retail sales to increase this year, but because of a rise in prices not because of a return of spending appetite.
“We expect that all analysed Central and Eastern European (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) grocery markets will increase in value in 2014 and 2015. The biggest growth is expected in Russia and Ukraine, followed by Bulgaria and Romania, while in the coming years the Czech Republic and Hungary will be trapped in stagnation,” PMR analysts say.
However, the sales growth in the two-year period will mainly be driven by price increases, while spending appetite will be flat at best on all markets in the region, PMR analysts added.
Russia’s market was the biggest in the region, with sales reaching EUR275 billion, more than all the other markets in the area put together. Second and third largest were Poland and Ukraine, while Romania ranked fifth, with EUR14 billion. The data for Romania and the rest of the countries do not include the results of the cash & carry networks. ZF estimates their sales to amount to about EUR2 billion a year in Romania.
Romania’s market is smaller than Czech Republic’s despite having twice the population. An explanation for the difference may be the average net wage in Romania, EUR350 in net amount per month, while a Czech makes twice as much.
Romanian consumers remained cautious about spending in 2013 and only bought what they really needed, going at the same time for cheaper items. This affected the revenue of both modern and traditional retailers.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)