São Paulo – Brazilian supermarket sector grew by 2.07% in 2018 compared to the previous year. According to data published this Tuesday (5) by the Brazilian Supermarket Association (ABRAS, acronym in Portuguese), the accumulated result in 2018 was below the 3% estimate made in the beginning of last year, revised down to 2.53% in July.
ABRAS president João Sanzovo Neto said that 2018 couldn’t stand more expressive growths, as the supermarket sector expected. “We started the year well but were surprised by the truck drivers’ strike at the end of May, impacting both fuel and food prices because of the shortages. Without these factors, we would probably have achieved better results.
Sanzovo also highlighted the lack of confidence amongst consumers following the crisis, which led to people to rethink their expenses. “There was also the influence of uncertainties in the political scenario caused by the election year. Nevertheless, growing 2% in this scenario is very positive, and was our best result since 2015,” he said.
He stressed that the expectations for this year are better, specially after the definition of the new government. “We are optimistic and hopeful that 2019 will be better than 2018. Financial market forecasts are positive, with interests and inflation controlled. The confidence amongst entrepreneurships remains high, as we’ve seen in our last survey, and considering this scenario, we projected a growth rate of about 3% in sales for this year,” he highlighted.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
