First year of the pandemic generated a record in the closing of commercial companies, says IBGE

The first year of the Covid-19 pandemic caused a record closing of commercial companies in Brazil. Between 2019 and 2020, the country lost 106,560 establishments, a drop of 7.4%, according to the Annual Trade Survey released this Wednesday (17) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

Brazil reached the end of the first year of the pandemic with 1.339 million companies in commerce, compared to 1.446 million in the previous year.

The biggest retractions occurred in the segment of trade of vehicles, parts and motorcycles (-9.9%) and in retail (-8.7%). In wholesale, the year was of advance (1.3%).

“Between 2019 and 2020, there was a substantial drop of 106 thousand companies in the country’s commerce. For comparison purposes, in 2015, the year of economic recession, the drop was 16 thousand companies. The following year, still in the biennium of the crisis, there was a retraction of another 25 thousand. What we have during the first year of the pandemic is a fall with an effect four times greater”, explains manager of Structural Analysis at IBGE, Synthia Santana, in a note.

Many companies have modified the delivery method, such as drive-thru pickup and home delivery. According to the IBGE, among the companies where this change was not possible, there was a significant loss, as in the textile, clothing, footwear and haberdashery segment, which has a shopping experience that requires more product touch and experimentation.

Record of layoffs

The survey also revealed that more than 400 thousand jobs were lost in commerce, a decline of 4% in the period. It was the biggest fall in the occupation of the commerce, in the interval of one year, since the beginning of the historical series of the research, in 2007.

Of the 404,100 workers who left the sector, 90.4% (or 365,400 of them) were employed in retail. In this segment, only two activities, considered essential services during the health crisis, had an increase in personnel: hypermarkets and supermarkets (1,800 people) and pharmaceuticals, perfumery, cosmetics and medical, optical and orthopedic items (318 people).

There was also a record drop in the number of workers in 2 of the 3 major segments of commerce: – 4.8% in the retail sector, which employs 73.7% of commerce workers, and -8.5% in the segment of vehicles, parts and motorcycles.

Wholesale sector accounts for most of the revenue

In 2020, trade totaled BRL 4.7 trillion in gross revenue, of which BRL 2.3 trillion was generated in wholesale, BRL 2.1 trillion in retail and BRL 394.3 billion in retail. vehicles, parts and motorcycles.

Without deductions, such as taxes and rebates, there is net operating revenue, which was R$4.3 trillion. Most of this value was generated in wholesale trade (47.4%), followed by retail trade (43.9%) and trade in vehicles, parts and motorcycles (8.7%).

In ten years, the automotive sector increased from 14.7% to 8.7% of participation in net operating revenue. According to the IBGE, the decline in the participation of the vehicle sector occurred mainly in the period of recession, in 2015 and 2016, and which fell again significantly in 2020.