Food retail turnover increased by almost 10% compared to 2019 and was 97% above the level of 2011, reaching the level estimated in last year’s analysis dedicated to this market, of nearly 130 billion lei in 2020.
For 2021, KeysFin analysts estimate to exceed the threshold of 142 billion lei, due to the increase in demand but also to increased inflationary pressures.
The food retail sector had a total workforce of up to 225,000 employees in 2020, most of whom worked for PROFI ROM FOOD SRL (a company wholly owned by MEP RETAIL LUXCO SARL in Luxembourg), respectively nearly 18,000 people ( after an annual advance of 10% in 2020).
The number of companies recorded a 1% increase compared to 2019, but the trend of market consolidation is evident, with the number of companies declaring their financial results 19% lower than in 2011, reaching 53, 6 thousand companies in 2020.
LIDL SURPASSES KAUFLAND IN THE YEAR OF THE PANDEMIC
LIDL DISCOUNT SRL, a company directly controlled by WE INTERNATIONAL GMBH, has become the market leader in food distribution after the largest annual growth, both nominal and percentage, of the top 10 (of 3.1 billion lei, respectively by 32%), to 12.9 billion lei in 2020.
The former leader, KAUFLAND ROMANIA SCS fell to second position after an annual increase of 960 million lei, respectively 8%, with a turnover of 12.8 billion lei in 2020. The company, controlled directly by KAUFLAND INTERNATIONAL ERSTE GMBH, remained the most profitable player, with a net profit of 970 million lei, respectively 19.7% of the total.
In third position, in terms of turnover, is CARREFOUR ROMANIA SRL with 9 billion lei, respectively 7% of the total, followed by PROFI ROM FOOD SRL (with 6.8% of the total) and MEGA IMAGE SRL which has maintained its market share of 5.6% of the total in 2020.
The top 10 food retail companies achieved a cumulative turnover of 73 billion lei, generating more than 56% of the total turnover in 2020.
2021, FOCUS ALSO ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REDUCTION MEASURES
With the increase in turnover, profitability also increased, so that in 2020, the net profit of local companies recorded an increase of 14% compared to the previous year and was 334% higher than that of 2011, reaching 4.9 billion lei.
The top 10 players recorded a cumulative net profit of 2.5 billion lei, almost 52% of the total in 2020. The net result (net profit minus net loss) improved significantly, from a loss of more than 1 billion lei in 2011 to net profit. positive result of 4.1 billion lei recorded in 2020.
“Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, food retailers have launched major investment projects: from inventory management, vast information, prevention and accountability campaigns to efforts to sanitize spaces, l expansion of store networks, the opening of warehouses dedicated to online sales and investments in home delivery. We are now seeing more attention paid to measures to reduce environmental impact: from optimizing energy consumption and more careful waste management procedures, to reducing or even eliminating use of plastic,” said Diana Florescu, economic analyst at KeysFin, one of the largest suppliers. of business information solutions in Romania.
HIGHER DEMAND AND HIGHER PRICES
Retail trade turnover volume excluding trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles (adjusted series) increased by 10% in 2021 compared to 2020 (for the food, beverage and tobacco retail segment, there was an increase more than twice as low, by 4.2% in 2021 compared to 2020).
Wholesale trade increased in 2021 by 20% compared to the previous year, while that of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 11.3%, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. .
THE ROMANIAN EASTER CONSUMER BASKET: MORE EXPENSIVE AND… SMALLER
According to the latest INS data, the consumer price index of food products, which represent 33% of the Romanians’ consumption basket, increased in March 2022 by 11.2% compared to the same month in 2021. The largest annual price increases of over 20% in the food category in March 2022 were for potatoes (36.5%), oil (32.3%), flour corn (24.4%) and flour, 21.5% above the March 2021 level.
Despite the price increases, Romanians are preparing for Easter and although they are buying smaller quantities of food and are much more attentive to sales offers, given that increases in income have not kept pace with large increases in price, they manage to take advantage of the holiday period and keep their Easter traditions.