Electronic market and drink should slow down over the next five years

Sales of electronics and non-alcoholic beverages will have more timid growth in coming years. According to analysts, despite the economic downturn, the deceleration is expected even in a favorable scenario due to change in the consumption profile.
The market of electronic products, whose average annual growth between 2009 and 2014 was 9.4%, must register an annual 3.2% high only until 2019, Euromonitor International Consulting survey points.
In the category of non-alcoholic beverages, the average retail sales growth also will be smaller, going from an annual average of 7.6% to 5.4%, over the same period of comparison.
"In a lot of categories that we follow, when compared with the next couple of years, the average growth rate will be lower. Although demand is the same, the question is when the money is going to flow at the tip, "says the Director-General of the Euromonitor in Brazil, Marcel Motta.
In the electronics sector, the price of the products appears as one of the factors that contributes to this sales downturn.
"A higher price readjustment in products considered basic need also impacts this category, because the consumer is with the tighter pocket and ends up opting to reduce the frequency of purchase of goods considered superfluous", says Euromonitor research analyst, Leonardo Freitas.
To the Director of the computer area of the Brazilian Association of electrical and Electronics Industry (Abinee), Hugo Valerio, the slowdown was already expected after the boom in the sale of computers, laptops and mobile phones in recent years.
"This is one of the factors that help explain this movement: the fact that the basis of comparison of recent years be too large, so naturally it's more difficult to sustain these growth rates," says Hugo Valerio.
He says that since 2004, the sector was benefited by the tax exemption coupled with income growth. The deterioration of the economy, combined with the fact that much of the demand for these products has already been met, contributes to the smaller expansion.
"What saves the industry now is the demand for smartphones, a product of lesser value and that is on the rise," he says.
Drinks
In the category of drinks, the new taxes approved by the federal Government are among the factors that should lead to a weaker growth in the coming years.
"Besides the economic slowdown in Brazil, which has impacted the consumption in middle-class homes, non-alcoholic beverage companies also face the impact of the high dollar costs of raw material, packaging and logistics", cites an analyst at Euromonitor, Renata Martins.
According to her, the trend is that the reduction of income take consumers choose to purchase of beverages for consumption at home rather than consume the products out of the home.
The comparison between the average beverage sales growth in food service, such as bars and restaurants, and drinks at retail confirm this migration movement (see the chart).
"This drop in the pace of expansion in the sector was not expected before, but now we know we're going to have bad years," says President of the Association of Manufacturers of soft drinks of Brazil (Afrebras), Fernando Rodrigues of neighborhoods.
It assigns negative Outlook to the retraction in consumption, reflecting the unfavourable economic scenario, the taxation in the industry and the problems of unfair competition.
"Today the concentration is the biggest problem in the industry, because it makes the environment less competitive, hurting the overall growth", reveals the leader.
With the market growing less, he believes the pressure on small and medium-size will be larger. In this scenario, the giants of the sector generally earn more space.
Neighborhoods points out that neither the advancement of drinks with healthy appeal, one of the main stakes in the industry, will be enough to reverse the trend of deceleration. "This helps, but does not save the industry because it is still sluggish in volume".
Innovation
For Hugo Valerio, of Abinee, in the electronics industry's ability to deliver innovative products is still the main factor that can leverage sales.
"I see consumers more cautious, but still will remain interested in higher value-added releases", reinforces Leonardo Freitas, of Euromonitor.