The market of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and technical products (electro-IT) grew by 7.4%y/y to RON 58.5 billion (EUR 11.77 billion) in the first half of 2024 (H1), according to a GFK report quoted by Economica.net. Food sales made up the largest part of the market. 

Lower inflation encouraged Romanian consumers, but the desire to make important purchase decisions is still at a low level, although increasing, GFK said.

In volume terms, the advance was much smaller if the GFK nominal growth was deflated by the inflation that eased this year but still measured 6.2% y/y in H1. The prices of food goods increased by 2.9% y/y and those of non-food goods by 7.2% y/y in H1.

The statistics office reported a 4% y/y rise in the sales of food goods and a robust 14% y/y rise in the sales of non-food goods (not including car fuels).

Of the total market assessed by GFK, RON 48.9 billion was spent on FMCG, 6.9% more than in the similar period of 2023, and RON 9.6 billion (10.3% up y/y) on electro-IT (household appliances, phones, tablets, laptops, televisions, other IT products).

Romanians spent 5.3% more on food, 11% more on non-alcoholic beverages, and 6% more on medicines in H1, according to GFK.

Thus, from the consumption basket, Romanians spent 45.4% on food (compared to 46.3% last year) and 14.4% on non-alcoholic beverages (compared to 14.9% of the basket, last year).

At the same time, the GFK study indicates significant increases of 73% in value for home comfort products such as air conditioners, 23% for cameras, 13% for office equipment, and 19% for small home appliances. The market for telecom products grew by 7%, and that of IT and storage by 8%.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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