PC industry gets ready to grow up to 30% in 2010
Valor Econômico
Nothing like a day after another. At the end of last year, the projections of the computer industry indicated a fall of more than 10% in the sales of desktop and portable computers in 2009. For the manufacturers and retailers, what was coming was a cataclysm capable of putting an end to the accelerated cycle of growth started in 2005, when the Federal Government reduced the tax charges on the production of the machines, a decisive factor for the fall of the prices in the sector. 12 months later, there is not even a shadow of that scenario. The latest projections show 2009 will end with a much slighter retraction of nearly 6%. And, the good news is, 2010 will be a year of strong recovery. The estimates point to growth rates ranging from 12% to 30% in the number of units to be sold in the country.
The IDC consulting company, specializing in the area of information technology, estimates the sales will get to 12.7 million machines in 2010. The Brazilian Association for the Electric and Electronic Industry (Abinee) projects the sale of 14 million units. Regardless of the possible variations, chip manufacturer Intel estimates that Brazil may surpass Japan and Germany even next year and become the third biggest computer market in the world. The country is currently at the fifth place in that ranking.
This growing participation of Brazil, despite the world crisis scenario, has not passed by unnoticed by the main international manufacturers of computers. According to Ivair Rodrigues, analyst of the IT Data consulting firm, 87 companies received tax exemption for the Basic Manufacturing Process (PPB, in Portuguese) in order to assemble their equipment in the country. Five years ago, they were 38. In 2009, the list saw the arrival of Acer, Asus, and Samsung. The three companies that had no sort of local manufacturing of PCs have announced plans to bring their production lines, either by themselves or through third parties. Today, among the big manufacturers in the world, only Apple and Toshiba (which integrates the joint venture Semp Toshiba in the country) do not assemble machines in the country. According to data of the Abinee, the installed base of computers in Brazil may get to 65 million in 2010, with an increase of 12% in sales in the sector, to R$ 39.5 billion (US$ 23 billion).