Uruguay

In 2023, drought continued in Uruguay, having an ongoing impact on the hot drinks landscape. Lack of water impacted more than half of Uruguay's 3.5 million citizens, leading to significantly slower agricultural production and directly impacting the…

2023 was the second consecutive year that sun care generated positive volume growth after three years of double-digit declines in volume sales earlier in the review period. While the dramatic drop in demand recorded earlier the review period was due…

Concentrates displayed a modest resurgence in off-trade volume sales following a decline in 2022, primarily propelled by decreased demand for powder concentrates. The tap water crisis, attributed to poor water quality due to high sodium content in…

The past two years of drought in Uruguay have adversely affected the quality of running water, rendering it unsuitable for human consumption due to its 400mg sodium content. This issue was particularly prevalent in Montevideo, Canelones, and San…

Due to the drought suffered across Uruguay, the quality of tap water was impacted in 2023. With a high level of sodium, tap water was unsuitable for consumption. The Uruguayan government responded to the crisis by giving away bottled water to…

Fragrances continued to record positive volume growth in 2023 as the return to pre-pandemic lifestyles meant that there was more need for local people to wear fragrances amidst a return to working and socialising outside of the home on a daily basis.…

Uruguay experienced a notable economic upturn of in the previous year but eventually faced a recession due to irregular and insufficient rainfall that evolved into a severe drought by the end of 2022. This prolonged crisis persisted until June 2023,…

Despite a moderate growth in off-trade volume sales for RTD (Ready-to-Drink) tea in 2023, the overall consumption landscape remains underdeveloped and lacks popularity among Uruguayan consumers. This modest upturn follows a series of declines over…

During 2023, oral care was one of the beauty and personal care categories that was most negatively affected by cross-border shopping and the informal trade in parallel imports and contraband from Argentina. Throughout the year, huge numbers of…

Menstrual care in Uruguay witnessed a sharp decline in retail volume sales in 2023, with the category contracting for the second consecutive year. Uruguayans are still buying menstrual care products, but many consumers opted to buy these products at…

As with home care products in general, cross-border shopping led to a decline in volume sales of toilet care. Although inflation has soared in Argentina, the depreciation rate against the Uruguayan peso has made toilet care products purchased in…

Laundry care registered a fall in volume sales in 2023, as a result of a significant number of consumers crossing the border into Argentina to buy laundry care products. Although inflation has soared in Argentina, the depreciation rate against the…

2023 saw colour cosmetics record positive volume growth for the third consecutive year as the return to pre-pandemic lifestyles meant that many local consumers had more reason to wear colour cosmetics. The return to working and socialising outside of…

Most categories in wipes witnessed heavy volume declines in 2023, as the issue of small-scale smuggling impacted Uruguay. Wipes were a very popular item to be purchased in Argentina, due to the relatively high unit price and small easy-to-carry…

Polishes registered a steep volume fall in 2023, with all segments within polish registering a decline. Increasingly polishes are losing out to products within surface care such as multi-purpose cleaners, which are generally more affordable, as well…

Though home care registered current value growth, both constant value and volume sales fell. This was partly due to a weakening economy, due to a severe drought. However, the main factor impacting volume sales was cross-border shipping into…

100% juice experienced significant growth in 2023, primarily fuelled by the prevailing health and wellness trend. Consumer inclination towards healthier and natural juice options has surged. The increased demand for vitamin C, prompted by COVID-19…

Energy drinks continued its strong growth trajectory in retail volume sales, driven by habitual consumption patterns among consumers. Montevideo Refrescos SA's Monster brand, catering to a younger demographic inclined towards extreme sports and…

Due to the drought suffered in Uruguay over the past two years, the quality of the running water was impacted in 2023, containing 400mg of sodium and being unsuitable for drinking. This was seen in the cities of Montevideo, Canelones and San Jose.…

2023 was another year of positive volume growth for skin care as the category continues to benefit from the increasing numbers of local consumers performing their beauty routines at home, rather than relying on the services of professional…

Home insecticides registered a fall in volume sales in 2023. One of the factors leading to the decline was a severe drought. With minimal rainfall, there was less standing water, which meant less breeding ground for mosquitoes, which in turn reduced…

Air care continued to be a popular product in Uruguay in 2023, though as with other home care products, it was negatively impact by cross-border shopping in Argentina and registered a fall in volume sales. Although inflation has soared in Argentina,…

Sports drinks is experiencing continuous growth, stimulated by the prevailing health and fitness lifestyle trend and exacerbated by the recent tap water crisis. Following the COVID-19 crisis, sales of sports drinks have shown robust retail volume…

2023 was the second year in a row that hair care recorded declining volume sales in Uruguay, with the category having registered falling demand during four out of the five years that comprised the review period. While sales declines earlier in the…

2023 was the third year in a row that depilatories in Uruguay experienced volume sales decreases, with declining demand registered in all three of the categories that comprise depilatories: hair removers/bleaches, women’s pre-shave and women’s razors…

Volume sales of deodorants in Uruguay continued to decline throughout the review period. During early stages of the review period, this was due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, since 2021, the main reason for declining demand for…

In 2023, retail tissue in Uruguay witnessed further decline in volume sales, with paper towels and toilet paper both affected. These two segments accounted for almost 90% of all retail tissue sales by value. Small-scale smuggling has negatively…

Performance was muted for surface care in 2023, with constant value sales, as well as volume sales, falling slightly. Now that the pandemic is over, there was less cleaning overall. In addition, significant illicit trade also dampened volume sales.

As with home care products in general, cross-border shopping led to a decline in volume sales. Although inflation has soared in Argentina, the depreciation rate against the Uruguayan peso has made dishwashing products purchased in Argentina much…

With the pandemic over, there was less frenzied cleaning, and as such bleach registered a fall in volume sales. That being said, there was a slight increase in constant value sales, due to price rises. Bleach is still a popular cleaning product in…

The drought experienced over the past two years in Uruguay severely impacted the quality of running water, rendering it unsuitable for human consumption due to its high sodium content of 400mg. This affected cities like Montevideo, Canelones, and San…

While almost all categories of men’s grooming registered negative volume growth in 2023, men’s fragrances was the one category to buck the generally negative sales trends as both mass men’s fragrances and premium men’s fragrances registered…

Other hot drinks recorded a sluggish performance in 2023, driven by the decline in other plant-based hot drinks (yerba maté), which make up the majority of other hot drink sales in Uruguay. The drought in Uruguay impacted the running water. Since it…

2023 saw bath and shower register significant declines in volume sales and the main factor underpinning this trend is the huge gap that exists in prices between retail outlets in Uruguay and neighbouring Argentina, where the prices charged for a wide…

Retail volume of sales of nappies/diapers/pants in Uruguay fell considerably in 2023, due to the ongoing decline in the country’s birth rate. In addition, small-scale smuggling from Argentina also impacted local retailers’ sales, although the impact…

Tissue and hygiene sales in Uruguay were dampened by the growing issue of small-scale smuggling from Argentina. Swathes of consumers have been crossing into Argentina to buy cheaper goods. The gap between the official exchange rate and the informal…

Retail adult incontinence in Uruguay was subject to an increase in small-scale smuggling, but to a much lesser extent than other tissue and hygiene categories. Typically, the most smuggled products are those sold in a relatively small and…

Vitamins are expected to register a further significant decline in volume sales in 2023. The boon from the pandemic is long over and vitamins that claim immune boosting benefits are seeing a significant decline. Vitamin C in particular is expected to…

Ice cream continued to register positive volume growth in 2022, with another sales increase expected to be seen in 2023. With a number of heatwaves and a hotter summer than usual, the demand for ice cream increased considerably in the summer months…

Inflation and ongoing price increases significantly impacted the retail industry in 2022. High price rises led to changing consumer behaviours, with a drop in demand as many were looking to delay significant purchases, reducing and adapting their…

Premium beauty and personal care registered another very strong sales performance during 2023, the fourth-year during which double-digit current value growth was registered in the category as demand continued to rise steadily. In particular, sales…

Packaged leavened bread registered a further contraction in retail volume sales in 2023, as strong price increases were brought about by rising costs. Demand has also been curbed by the many Uruguayans crossing the border into Argentina in order to…

RTDs was one of the biggest winners in the Uruguayan alcoholic drinks market in 2022. Of the different RTDs segments, spirit-based drinks put in the best performance over the review period as a whole. Growth has been in line with the trend towards…

Cider has been losing share amongst Uruguay alcoholic drinks options for the last 15 years. Although it witnessed an unexpected strong bounce in 2020 (related to voluntary home seclusion during the pandemic) and further marginal growth in 2021, the…

In 2023, staple foods has registered a marginal decrease in retail volume terms as consumers reduce consumption in order to save money. High prices remain an issue for Uruguayans and this is impacting negatively on demand. Furthermore, the…

In 2023, sales of breakfast cereals declined in retail volume and current value terms. The increase in prices, as well as the required health labels, warning about excess levels of sugar, has reduced demand for breakfast cereals. Children´s breakfast…

Pressure on households budgets is driving many Uruguayans to cross the border into Argentina and buy edible oils, alongside other grocery items, at a cheaper price. According to industry sources, edible oil retail prices are up to 70% cheaper in…

Chilled and shelf stable dairy desserts registered a decrease in retail volume terms in 2022, but a modest rebound is expected in 2023. During the second half of 2022, the second leading player Cooperativa Nacional de Productores de Leche (Conaprole)…

After seeing a major decline in 2020, when the pandemic first arrived in Uruguay, followed by a further fall in sales in 2021, gum registered a rebound in volume and value terms in 2022, with positive growth also expected for 2023, although sales…

2023 saw Uruguay’s beauty and personal care industry face declining volume sales as cross-border shopping and the informal trade in parallel imports and contraband smuggled in from Argentina continues to erode demand for products distributed through…