10 largest consumer goods firms: The crisis, visible in halved profits

The ten largest consumer goods industry players last year managed to keep their sales at around 4bn euros, the 2008 level, but reported halved profits, according to the data included in the “Biggest Players in the Economy” ZF Yearbook and reports they filed with the Trade Registry. The ten companies control 20% of the consumer goods market, valued at 20bn euros in 2009 by ZF. A year of crisis has dented FMCG giants’ profitability rates and pushed JTI and Unilever into the red. The only player in the ranking that reported rising profit during this interval was Philip Morris, but the company’s representatives say the increase was largely because of some transfers operated between the US producer’s Romanian legal entities. Business consultants say big companies’ profits were harmed by the discounts producers had to carry out to maintain their sales volumes. The steepest turnover decline in the industry’s ranking last year was posted by Coca-Cola. The company’s sales shrank by 12% in volume and 20% in value (in euros).