Study: Technical consumer goods market in Romania records best quarter this year

The technical consumer goods market in Romania reached the value of EUR 410 million in the third quarter of 2013, up some 6 percent year-on-year. The quarter was the best quarter of the current year, according to the most recent GfK TEMAX report. The small domestic appliances market recorded the most important increase in the quarter, of more than 12 percent against the same period in 2012. Both the kitchen appliances category and personal care products showed double digit increase rates, good performances being recorded by the food preparation appliances and juicers on one hand, and shavers on the other, shows the study. The best performing category in the small appliances sector remained beverages, dominated by hot beverages makers. The non-subsidized value of the telecom sector in Romania amounted to EUR 115 million in the third quarter of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 11.9 percent. “While overall, the volume stagnated, in terms of non-subsidized value, the smartphones kept the sector on a positive path,” reads the report. The major domestic appliances market reached a growth rate of almost 8 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period the previous year, due to the success of built-in appliances. The washing machines market recorded an increase of 14 percent year-on-year, but the third quarter proved to be more challenging for the refrigeration market which showed a flat evolution in terms of value and lower volumes, but higher sales for products with the frost free technology incorporated. The IT market continued the positive trend and recorded a growth rate of 2.2 percent between July-September this year against the same period in 2012. The slight increase was generated by the media tablet and keyboard segments which kept their positive trend in this quarter, shows the GfK report. However, the demand for mobile computing, desk computing and monitors remained on the negative trend. The sales on the consumer electronics sector remained relatively stable in Q3, the total value of the market reaching EUR 57 million. While a negative trend was maintained for sales with audio home systems, DVD players, portable audio players, video consoles and plasma TV’s, the LCD TV’s managed to recover in the last two months of the quarter. The printers and multifunctional devices market stagnated in the third quarter of 2013 and recorded a value of EUR 7 million. However, the photo market continued to decrease this quarter, with 16.6 percent against Q3 2012, recording a value of EUR 10 million. “Similar to the previous quarter, the devices that drove this downturn were the compact cameras,” shows the report. This category reported a decrease of 24 percent year-on-year, recording sales of EUR 5 million. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com