Brazil’s Publishing Sector Turnover Has Decreased 25 Percent in 12 Years

By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A series of surveys carried out by the Economic Research Foundation Institute (Fipe) between 2006 and 2018, show that sales in the Brazilian publishing sector decreased 25 percent in that period. The data include sales to the general market and also by the government (textbooks).

The study, commissioned by the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL) and the National Union of Book Publishers (SNEL), shows that there was an increase in the number of books sold between 2006 and 2014, but after the onset of the economic recession, there was a sharp decline in sales and weaker results.

In 2006, the sector generated R$6.788(US$1,7) billion; in 2018, the amount was R$5.119 billion. In this period, average book prices fell by 34 percent. The price drop impacted the sector’s revenue.

“The industry gambled on a price reduction and a gain in scale [sales], but this did not happen. There is an increase in the number of copies sold, but it is not enough to secure the sector,” says economist Mariana Bueno, in charge of the research. “Even when the economy was growing, in the years 2009 and 2010, book sales failed to benefit [booksellers],” she says.

According to her, “no other country has suffered such a significant decline,” comparing book sales performance with Colombia, Mexico, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

In addition to the known lack of reading habits by Brazilians, this is a time of expansion of new technologies and services such as social networks, streaming, and mobile access. “All this competes with the attention time that could be given to a book,” said Bueno.

Fipe’s evaluation, available on the internet, indicates that the general publishing sub-sector (excluding government purchases) has lost 45 percent of market sales.

The second worst performance was recorded in the scientific, technical, and professional book sub-sector (36 percent decrease); followed by the textbook sub-sector (23 percent decline). The religious books sub-sector saw the smallest reduction in revenue (4 percent).

Considering only the recessive and low growth period (2014 to 2018), the drop in sales of scientific, technical and professional books sub-sector was 45 percent. According to Mariana Bueno, one of the reasons for this decrease may be the decline in the number of students in higher education.