Romanians spent more than one billion euros on cigarettes last year. This is almost six times more than they spent on cold cuts, while almost 900 million euros were allocated to buy soft drinks, beer and spirits.
The cigarette market ranks first among the segments of the consumer goods market in 2005, research by market analyst AC Nielsen reveals. The other two segments in the top three are beer and soft drinks, markets whose value exceeded 373 million euros, and 330 million euros respectively.
"It is not surprising to see cigarettes among the top consumer goods categories, considering smokers make up almost half of Romania's adult population, with a high smoking frequency," Emanuel Sanda, country manager of AC Nielsen commented for ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
The data of the leading producers on the domestic cigarette market show the volumes sold in 2005 exceeded 35-36 billion cigarettes (that is 1.8 billion packs a year).
The cumulated turnovers of the top three producers in this industry (Philip Morris Romania, British American Tobacco Romania and JTI Romania) last year exceeded the one billion-euro threshold.
The segment of beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is the most dynamic of all, with a cumulated retail value of 880 million euros in 2005. Four categories of the beverage market (beer, soft drinks, mineral water and spirits) are among the top segments on the consumer goods market.
The only non-foods category among the ten-most important markets in terms of value in 2005 is that of detergents, with retail sales of approximately 120 million euros.
"Categories like beer, coffee and chocolate have witnessed significant growth over the last few years, yet the systematic rise in prices for cigarettes will keep this category in the lead in terms of value," Emanuel Sanda believes.
The AC Nielsen research included 130 categories on the consumer goods market and surveyed only the retail market. It did not record data from the hotel-restaurant-catering market, from the cash & carry stores and from the open markets.
In 2006, the retail segment will go up by 17%, to 33.5 billion euros compared with 2005 when the market was put at 21.5 billion euros, reveals a survey by audit and financial consulting company Deloitte.
The increase in the value of the sales that Romania will witness this year is the highest in Central and Eastern Europe. Only Poland exceeds the value of the sales in Romania, which is three times higher than in Bulgaria, whose retail is on the bottom position of this ranking.
Retail will therefore account for half of the final 71.7 billion-euro consumption estimated for 2006.
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