Romanians are optimistic about their personal finances

Behind Germany, Romania is Hungary’s second biggest agri-food export market: in the first eleven months of last year it had a 12-percent share in our export. The average Romanian household spends 28 percent of its monthly budget on groceries and 20 percent on utility costs (the European averages are 20 and 23 percent, respectively). Compared with the situation one year earlier, 57 percent of Romanian households changed their spending habits in order to economise. However, only every third of them switched to cheaper groceries.

Consumer mood is the second most optimistic in the region in Romania: Nielsen’s consumer confidence index went above 70 points in Q2 2014 and has stayed there ever since (2015 Q1-Q4: 74, 78, 74 and 79 points; the European average is 81 points). There are three components of the index: 49 percent of Romanian consumers are optimistic about their personal financial situation in 2016. However, only 30 percent are optimistic about their job prospects. Also 30 percent said the time is more or less right to buy what they need. The same ratios for the whole of Europe are 41, 32 and 35 percent, respectively. What about grocery retail trends? In 2015 value sales were up 0.4 percent and volume sales grew by 3.1 percent; prices decreased by 2.7 percent..