Beverage sector ignores fall in production and plans investing US$ 3 billion
Valor Econômico
The 10.9% fall indicated by the IBGE in the production of the beverage industry in April, compared to March, is related to the end of the summer, but not to deceleration in the sector. On the contrary: the companies foresee investments to increase the capacity this year in nearly R$ 5.4 billion (US$ 3 billion). "Such fall, indicated by the IBGE, is influenced by the seasonality of the sector", says William De Angelis Sallum, President of Wow! Nutrition, manufacturer of the Sufresh juices and Feel Good teas. March, according to him, is the best month of the first half of the year. "From April on, with the end of summer, the production slows down because the sales somehow fall. In the following months, they drop a little more and in August they recover again. In September, October and November, when Summer is back, we speed up once again. Every year is like that", explains Sallum.
The same happens with soft drinks, according to Paulo Mozart, Executive Officer of the Brazilian Association of the Industries of Soft Drinks and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (Abir). "There hasn't been a real fall in production or in consumption. What happens is that, in line with what happens every year, there is a seasonal adjustment", he says. "The summer months represent 40% to 45% of the annual consumption, thus April always presents a fall compared to March", he explains. According to him, June also tends to be a weak month for the sector of soft drinks. This year, the FIFA Soccer World CupTM will have positive influence on the sector though. "We hope we'll have numbers similar to those of January in June ", says Mozart.
For the beer sector, the seasonality is even stronger. Besides the Summer factor, the holidays also end up boosting the consumption and, therefore, the production. "March was a full month, with 31 days and no holidays. But since Easter fell in early April, the production to supply the peak caused by those days was concentrated in the third month of the year. In the rest of April, there were no more long holidays as it happened last year, since Tiradentes' Day fell on a Wednesday. That is why consumption was stable", explains an executive connected to a large brewery.
This year, both the beer industry and the industry of juices and soft drinks expect explosive growth in consumption. The manufacturers of soft drinks are planning on selling at least 1.3 billion liters more than in 2009, which represents growth of 6.8%. The beer market projects an increase in the volumes between 6% and 10%. As regards the manufacturers of juices, their expectations are above two digits.
To meet the demand, the companies of the sector are investing R$ 5.4 billion (US$ 3 billion) this year in the increase of the productive capacity. AmBev, for instance, is investing R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) to increase its capacity. Schincariol has also announced R$ 1 billion (US$ 556 million) to be spent this year in the increase of the productive capacity. Wow! Nutrition is increasing the productive capacity of its Caçapava plant, in the interior of São Paulo, by 50%.