Venezuela's consumer goods advantages are its relatively large and growing population, oil wealth (which has fuelled high levels of social and consumer spending in the past decade) and avid consumer habits. However, capital controls are posing a serious challenge to retailers, as it is increasingly difficult to buy US dollars for import purchases. Given that the consumer goods sector is highly dependent on imports (which in turn are financed by oil export earnings, which have fallen sharply), this is severely affecting performance.
Venezuela's retail market remains underdeveloped in comparison with the other major economies in the region. Given shortages of foreign exchange, retailers are struggling to source sufficient supplies to meet the surge in demand, prompting shortages of goods as diverse as food staples, toilet rolls and electronics.
Efforts by the government to impose price freezes in order to reduce headline inflation (which is approaching 70% a year, although food price inflation is higher, at around 100%) have only exacerbated these problems.

Consumer goods and retail report 2

Overview 2

Retail 3

Food and drink 6

Non-food products 10

Industry publishing schedule 14

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