SBWire

The main story in 2011 was the effect of recurrent cholera epidemics on sales of bleach. The epidemics increased awareness among individuals as information campaigns launched by the Ministry of Health focused on hygiene and cleanliness in the home to prevent the disease. This trend was encouraged especially in rural areas where poor hygiene and lack of potable water are notable issues. The campaigns increased the popularity of bleach as a multifunctional product for cleaning, removing stains...

Oral care is still driven by innovation and by a strong level of advertising in 2011, particularly in whitening and tooth care. Brands and oral care professionals highly invested in advertising campaigns in order to promote oral hygiene and more technical and sophisticated ranges of products like electric toothbrushes, which broke all records in 2011. While innovation and advertising support did not seem to always bear fruits in other beauty and personal care categories due to increasingly...

Microwaves are the least expensive of all cooking appliances in South Africa. Only 36% of households are in possession of a microwave. In 2011, sales increased by 15%, mainly driven by price deflation through the reduction of import taxes. Microwaves achieved volume sales of over 1 million units in 2011 growing at a rate of 15%. Value sales, however, rose by only 4% compared to growth of 13% in the previous year, being driven down by price deflation and imports of cheaper microwaves.

Prolongation of the economic downturn in Spain and its effect on consumer disposable incomes and real estate had a significant negative impact on the demand for homewares products over 2011. Traditionally, Spanish consumers renew their homewares when moving into a new house, and the collapse of the real estate sector signified a lower demand for these products. In addition, decreasing disposable incomes are forcing Spanish consumers to prioritise on their expenditure, and they have become...

Although not part of traditional Pakistani cuisine, noodles has seen rapid growth over the review period and continues to be very popular as they are easy to prepare, come in appealing flavours, make for a filling snack/mini meal and are easily affordable. In increasingly busy urban lives, they serve as a quick and convenient mini meal. In semi-urban and rural parts too, noodles are a novel snack/meal, becoming increasingly common among children and the younger generation.

Plastic stand-up pouches is seeing strong growth in other hot drinks, expected to record a CAGR of 6% over the forecast period. However, this pack type still represents a very small figure in the overall other hot drinks packaging volume.

Germany's population continues to age, and with this development, since incontinence is strongly related to age, the demand for such products continued to rise strongly in 2011. It has been estimated that some eight million German people are currently affected by incontinence, with five million of these sufferers aged over 50. This suggests that it is not only the elderly who require incontinence products, as younger people are also affected by incontinence, which further boosts the growth...

BMI View: Production from oil sands will continue to drive Canada's oil production growth. However, exploration in Canada's offshore acreage and unconventional resources could prove-up more oil and gas reserves to support the country's long-term growth prospects. The outlook for Canada's oil and gas industry is still a rosy one, though Canada's upstream potential needs more support from infrastructure development.

BMI View: The advent of further political strife, relating to the presidential standoff between the military backed candidate Ahmad Shafiq and his Muslim Brotherhood opponent Mohammed Morsi, has undermined policy coherence as it relates to the country's most significant economic sector. Now that Morsi has been confirmed as president, one thing is clear; when it comes to Egypt's gas sector, domestic needs are going to take priority over exports, as the decision to end gas supplies to Israel confirms. This will inevitably affect the pricing climate for international oil companies operating in Egypt's gas sector, potentially making it more of a struggle to secure internationally competitive rates when selling gas.

The Brazil Tourism Report examines the significant long-term potential being offered by the local tourism industry, but flags short-term concerns about the lack of adequate airport infrastructure posing a challenge to the future development of air travel within the country.

The political situation in Bahrain remains fractious, as evidenced by the protests against the Formula One racing event in the country in April. Nevertheless, we forecast an economic expansion of 2.5% in 2012. Growth in volumes at the Khalifa bin Salman Port are forecast to exceed GDP growth, with container handling set to grow by 8.0%, supported by a strong household consumption outlook for the country. Whether the throughput demands the capacity of the facility however, much less a further expansion to 4mn twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), remains to be seen.

The Philippines' mining sector is set to rise in value from US$3.2bn in 2010 to US$7.8bn in 2016. We have a very positive overall outlook for the country's mining industry, but hold a cautious medium-term view regarding the country's political and security risks. We believe that the current Aquino administration is able to eventually overcome these shortcomings and can set the foundation for substantial growth in the future. President Aquino in late 2011 called for the creation of a new comprehensive national mining policy aimed at resolving current mining law problems.

The Slovenian Retail Report examines the long-term potential of the local consumer market, but flags short-term concerns about the impact on Slovenia's economic outlook of aggressive fiscal austerity, weak credit conditions and depressed domestic economic confidence.

The Romania Real Estate report examines the Commercial Office, Retail and Industrial segments throughout the country in the context of the April 27 government collapse.

With the Slovakian parliament voting in favour of new austerity measures in mid-May 2012 under the administration of newly elected Prime Minister Robert Fico, the second half of 2012 could prove tough for the country's auto industry. The move, intended to reduce the Slovak budget deficit from 4.8% to 3% of GDP by 2013, is expected to produce savings of EUR1.5bn (US$1.9bn) and see tax increases on banks, high earning companies and the wealthy. These will include a financial transaction tax and, perhaps most pertinently, a tax on luxury cars. This latter point could hinder auto sales, at least at the more expensive end of the market, which in turn will impact production if demand weakens. Given that the Slovakian economy is also heavily reliant on exports, the inevitable decline in consumer spending throughout the rest of the eurozone as the sovereign debt crisis continues will play a major part in the country's immediate fortunes. However, China's emergence as the top importer of Slovak cars in 2011, taking 14.9% of exports, means that the country is not as subject to the problems of the eurozone as it once was and could open itself to new markets in Asia as a result of this recent success. We are still expecting economic growth in Slovakia in 2012, however, although not as much as we initially predicted in late 2011, given that unemployment has now risen to affect 14% of the population.

The Indian Retail Report examines the long-term potential of the local consumer market, but flags shortterm concerns about the impact on India's economic outlook of continued fiscal indiscipline.

BMI's Netherlands Metals Report for Q3 2012 examines the long-term potential of the country's highly integrated and competitive steel industry, but flags short-term concerns about the impact of external market problems, notably the eurozone crisis.

BMI View: Strong government support and industry interest in developing a nascent shale gas industry in Poland leaves BMI cautiously optimistic with regard to the country's gas production outlook. We have upwardly revised our forecast for Poland's gas production, as we take into account the commercial production of modest volumes of shale gas by 2016. Poland's obligations to reduce its carbon emissions by 2020 under EU policy will also lead to a marked rise in its gas consumption, as the country switches from coal to gas for power generation.

Globus Germany: Consumer Profile is the result of Canadean's extensive online consumer survey Globus in Germany, presenting uniquely detailed data on Globus's end-consumers. It provides retailer profiles for both Main and Occasional consumers (determined by the share of their goods coming from this retailer) covering over 25 individual consumer groups, and retailer share at product category level.

GlobalData, the industry analysis specialist, has released its new report, "Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Therapeutics - Pipeline Assessment and Market Forecasts to 2019". The report is an essential source of information and analysis on the global Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Therapeutics market. The report identifies the key trends shaping and driving the global Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Therapeutics market. The report also provides insights on the prevalent competitive landscape and the emerging players expected to significantly alter the market positioning of the current market leaders. Most importantly, the report provides valuable insights on the pipeline products within the global Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Therapeutics sector. This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalData's team of industry experts.

This profile is the essential source for top-level energy industry data and information. The report provides an overview of each of the key sub-segments of the energy industry in Bolivia. It details the market structure, regulatory environment, infrastructure and provides historical and forecasted statistics relating to the supply/demand balance for each of the key sub-segments. It also provides information relating to the natural gas assets (gas fields and pipelines) in Bolivia. The report compares the investment environment in Bolivia with other countries in the region. The profiles of the major companies operating in the natural gas sector in Bolivia together with the latest news and deals are also included in the report.

Our overarching view on the US economy is that the recovery will remain slow and erratic, with both fears of recession and hopes of a boom both likely to be dashed. We are forecasting real private consumption growth of 2.1% in 2012 and 2.4% in 2013, from 2.2% in 2011. Private consumption has been responsible for most of real GDP growth since the middle of 2011 (two-thirds of growth in Q311, and one-half in Q411), but we expect the consumer's contribution to fade as 2012 progresses due to the absence of strong wage growth. While overall real consumption is increasing, the main source of the increase has been durable goods as opposed to nondurable goods such as food. We see this is as a sign that US consumers are paring back on non-essential, non-durable goods but loading up on more essential durable goods such as automobiles, for which there has been pent-up demand since the recession began five years ago. The composition of consumption plays into our long-term view that domestic private consumption is set to decline as a percentage of GDP, and that the 'Great Recession' has altered US consumer habits on a semi-permanent basis.

Unquestionably the biggest development to hit Hong Kong's auto industry in Q212 was the move by Japan's Nissan Motors, the country's second-largest car manufacturer, to use Hong Kong as a regional headquarters for its luxury Infiniti model. Nissan is seeking to use the city-state as a gateway into the lucrative neighbouring Chinese market and could set a precedent if it enjoys success. The move is certainly a major victory for Hong Kong's auto sector over that of its regional rival Singapore.