The demand for beverages, convenience meals, snacks, and high-end personal care products has dramatically increased especially since a year ago, defying the general decline in the market for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
The movement is comparable to lifestyle products in the consumer durables sector, where growth is primarily fueled by the premium range and demand for mass-priced goods is under pressure owing to inflation. Comparing the September quarter to the three months before, the FMCG industry saw a 0.9% total volume loss.
According to the quarterly FMCG industry report, the industry’s fourth consecutive quarter of negative volume growth was “attributed to the double-digit price growth over the prior six consecutive quarters.”Compared to a decline of 2.4% in the June quarter, rural markets saw a volume decline of 3.6% in the September quarter. According to the survey, double-digit price increases and slower unit growth are both driving the consumption reduction in rural markets.
Urban markets saw a volume gain of 1.2% over the same period.
In the September quarter, the non-food segment experienced a loss of 3.6%, while the food segment saw a volume rise of 3.2%. According to a survey, modern trade channels, including malls, supermarkets, and hypermarkets, “remain resilient with double-digit value (22.2%) as well as volume (11% growth).” According to another survey, small manufacturers and the top 400 FMCG companies are driving consumption with a 0.5% increase in volume.
When viewed sequentially, “they are also increasing both value and volume share in the last 2-3 quarters,” it was added.
While the pressure of inflation is still present, NielsenIQ Managing Director for India, Satish Pillai, noted that variances in rainfall across the nation’s rural areas have also caused a softening of the indexes for rural markets.