Euromonitor's recent report on �Bakery Products in Bulgaria� revealed that consumption of breakfast cereals in the country grew by 90 per cent, in value terms, between 2000-2005. And in 2005 alone the market grew by 14 per cent.
The low consumption levels are a clear reflection of the immaturity of Bulgaria's market and this revels a real potential for growth. The degree of scope is reflected in the annual cereal consumption which lies at 110g per person compared to the UK where it reaches 3kg per person.
The report claims the success of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals is also due to their healthy image, of which manufacturers worked hard to demonstrate as being part of a healthy diet.
The concept of healthy eating is still a growing phenomenon in Bulgaria but consumer education on the subject islacking, which is why producers are investing heavily in advertising to promote the health benefits of their produce to attract health conscious consumers.
Promotions include supermarket demonstrations designed to educate the consumers on the health benefits by using samples. Manufacturers have tried to encourage people to taste the products in a bid to encourage repeat purchases.
Leading manufacturers Nestle and Kellogg are the main participants in the trials using their national campaigns budgets to target the bigger cities where consumers are generally more open to sampling new goods.
The Euromonitor research flagged up muesli as the strongest growing cereal � recording 194 per cent growth between 2000-2005, but family breakfast remains the largest category.
The report argues that the entrance of domestic producers into the market has facilitated growth of the muesli sales. As muesli is easier to produce than traditional cereals it has allowed local producers to enter the market offering more competitive prices.
Euromonitor predicts the demand for breakfast cereal will continue to grow over the next five years, with annual value growth of 8.6 per cent between 2005-2010. And muesli is expected to remain as the strongest growing sector with an average growth of 9.8 per cent over the same period.
Market growth will be sustained through a combination of factors: increased pace of life accompanied by growth of disposable incomes resulting in increased demand for healthy, convenient packaged food such as cereal.
Euromonitor also points out that the expansion of supermarkets in Bulgaria along worth the growing distribution channel will play a vital role over the next few years in making breakfast cereal more widely available.
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