Cleaning products industry raises prices and review goals

The cleaning industry reduced the prices of their products more steeply this year, with reflexes that have reached retail. In the 12-month accumulated until June, inflation of those articles was 9.08 percent, while the Broad consumer price index (IPCA) stood at 6.52 percent. In six months there was also discrepancy.
The products of greatest expression for the thread-fabric softener, detergent and laundry detergent-pulled high. The items for clothes and dishes account for 45% of revenues in the industry. The major manufacturers are Unilever, Procter Gamble, chemical & Amparo, Reckitt Benckiser and Bombril.
According to Maria Eugenia Saldanha, Executive President of Associação Brasileira das Indústrias cleaning products (Abipla), the price increases are reflective of cost pressures and do not correspond to increased scope for the industry. "For a sector of essentiality like ours, there's not much room for margin gain", says the Executive.
The exchange rate has affected the cost of imported raw materials or very dolarizadas used by the sector, such as plastic resins and ingredients used as surfactants, says Maria Eugenia. "The composition of costs varies from company to company, but there are also other less noticeable aspects, such as inflation, some services essential to the operation of an industry", says the Executive. "Has the industry that can absorb more, but our industry is of low added value and has little elasticity."
According to the Director of a large retailer, the price adjustments were a strategy to increase the margins of manufacturers, who would be giving up volume to gain in price. An economist at a think tank says the evolution of prices of chemical products in the factory door as measured by the producer price index (PPI) recorded 0.22 indentation% year to date through May.
After a decade of growing two to three percentage points above the gross domestic product (GDP), the cleaning products industry is less optimistic this year and revised expectations downward. "Growth should stay in line or just a little above the GDP," said Maria Eugenia. She highlights the impact of inflation and says that the World Cup should also have negatively impacted the industry. "The purchase intent declined, and people are seeking to buy the cheapest, at atacarejo, for example."
In 2013, the industry's revenue was r $ 15.5 billion, on high of 4.4% over the previous year, adjusted for inflation. (Collaborated Adriana Mattos)