Open up 4% high sales projection this year

The real growth of 10.7% in sales of supermarkets in August compared with the same period last year reveals that the sector has been favoring a positive scenario for employment and income and to a slowdown in prices, according to the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Open). The performance made the entity of 3.5% increase to 4% the prospect of expansion in sales this year.
The Economist at the Open, Flávio Tayra, emphasizes that the months of August and September last year were of strong high pressure in prices of grocery items. Abrasmercado basket, which analyzes 35 products more consumed in the sector, fell to 0.16% in August compared to July of this year. In August 2012, the pointed index high of 0.96%.
Tayra pointed out that it is the third consecutive month of deflation in the basket analyzed by Open, in partnership with Gfk. According to him, the effect ensures a positive performance for the year. "Even if inflation occurs in the second half, leaving this deflationary dynamics that occurs three months ago, we have civilized indexes of prices in supermarkets, close to the IPCA full."
The Economist said that the sector still felt the positive effect of the employment scenario that the IBGE showed earlier. The unemployment rate calculated by the Brazilian Institute of geography and statistics (IBGE) in six major metropolitan areas of the country stood at 5.3 percent in August, compared to 5.6% in July and 6% in June this year. The result was on the ground of estimates of analysts ears by AE Projections (5.40% to 5.80%).
Exchange
To the Vice President of Open, João Sanzovo Neto, the most favourable exchange motivates more positive prospects in the second half than in the first. He assessed that the recent reduction of the devaluation of the real against the dollar partly alleviates the concern with high prices, although it is difficult to make predictions about the behavior of the coins.
"The scenario in June didn't look good mainly because the dollar exacerbated the economic perception", commented. He mentioned that the decision of the Federal Reserve (the Fed, the u.s. central bank) to maintain stimulus to the u.s. economy "took the stage one factor that made our predictions a little more murky."
According to Sanzovo Neto, internal research of Open reveal optimism of supermarket for year-end sales. "We believe can be a better December than last year."
The entity works associated with research to determine how the re-composition of stocks to sales of Christmas and new year and what should be the exchange rate impact on the prices of imported products. Tayra, however, points out that believes the effect is small. "Only about 3% of the industry's products is imported," he recalls.