OREANDA-NEWS. Despite the forecasts, 2013 started favorably for the Ukrainian TCG market, with growth reaching 14% against the same period last year. All sectors saw increases, with Consumer Electronics leading the way with a 22% rise. MDA and SDA sectors performed 19% and 18% growth. Photo, IT and Office equipment markets showed single-digit increase. Total sales volume for TCG market amounted to almost UAH 11 billion.  
Consumer Electronics:  Smart TV sets dominate

The Consumer Electronics sector recorded the largest growth rate among all markets (22%) and generated UAH 1.8 billion. The current sales of the most influential group, flat panel TVs, make up 80% of the entire sector (UAH 1.4 billion). Almost all TV sets are equipped with the LED technology, with half of them possessing Smart technology and video capabilities in 3D format. The second and third best performing segments in terms of sales volume are currently memory cards and USB memory. Car audio players also saw a single-digit increase.
Major Domestic Appliances: Sector still growing

Major Domestic Appliances amounted to UAH 2.1 billion in Q1 and in-creased by 19% compared with the beginning of 2012. The period was successful for all product groups in the sector. Despite the cold time of the year, refrigerators and freezers increased their share. Less seasonal products were also in demand – sales of dishwashers saw a double-digit increase, while sales of washing machines registered a similar performance. Despite the overall reduction in the share of cookers and ovens, these products were in demand and increased in Q1. Microwaves witnessed the slowest growth this quarter.
Small Domestic Appliances: Almost all segments show growth

Despite the reduction in the growth rates of some segments in the previous periods, SDA had a successful start to the year, with the overall sector having increased by 18% when compared to same period of last year. Vacuum cleaners remain an important product while personal care items were also in demand. Positive performances were registered by the two most significant segments – food preparation devices and meat mincers. Both showed robust double-digit increases.
Telecommunications: Smartphones help sector rise

The Telecommunications (Telco) sector saw 14% growth in Q1 2013 vs. Q1 2012, largely due to the strong performance of smartphones. Now 7 out of 10 mobile communication devices sold in Ukraine are "smart” mobile phones. Other segments within this sector showed declines, with fax ma-chines, landline telephones and mobile phones witnessing drops.
Information Technology: Media-tablets* come second by volume in the sector

Growth within the IT sector has not been as impressive as others within the TCG market. However, it still managed to record a quarter on quarter growth of 9%. The laptops segment saw a minor decline when compared to Q1 2012. Despite this, this segment constitutes more than a half of the IT sector 53%. Meanwhile, media tablets saw an increase and shifted desktop PCs from second place. According to the results of the Q1, 2013 the tablet market makes up almost half a billion UAH. While the market of independent devices has been steadily declining, the demand for additional equipment is growing.

* media tablets (based on the GfK classification) are portable devices with a diagonal varying from 5.6 inches, mobile OS and ARM processor (or similar to it).
Photo: Compact cameras with less functionality continue to decline

Comparing the same period in 2012, the photo sales volume grew by 3% and amounted UAH 372 billion. This growth indicates a rise in SLR cameras and the continued decline of more simple compact cameras. The latter are under pressure not only from their senior ‘friend’, SLR cameras, but also from smartphones, which allow users to take high quality pictures with a single device.
Office Equipment: Cracked tendency

During the last few periods Office equipment declined, but this quarter changed the tendency: multi-function devices grew, as did printers. The biggest surprise came from scanners, which saw a double-digit rise. Over-all, the sales of office equipment amounted to 251 million UAH.
Summary

Q1 2013 saw three main trends emerge for the TCG market. First of all, the digital market is still booming, with sectors such as Consumer Electronics and Telco performing extremely well. Secondly, saturation is occurring within the IT sector as laptops struggle to maintain high sales and supple-mentary devices gain more demand. And finally, the home appliance sec-tors are seeing growth coming from many different directions.