Ukrainian IT market worth €1bn

Ukrainian IT market increased by approx. 30% last year. In Euro terms its value crossed €1bn, which is comparable with the level recorded in 2005 and it represents a half of the value from 2007.

In 2010 IT products and services sales bounced back. Ukraine got some economic recovery after the financial crisis and political stability after the presidential and local elections. According to the latest report by the research company PMR, the value of the Ukrainian IT market grew last year by 29.6%, and crossed €1bn. In terms of local currency the dynamic was even more impressive and neared 35%. Market growth was driven by hardware sales, specifically by purchases of the notebooks, which increased in value by more than two thirds year on year. However, IT services and the sales of software licenses also showed a double digit growth.

Overall, during the last two years since 2008, when the market reached its maximum, IT spending in Ukraine lost approximately 40% of their value if measured in Euro. The economic crisis in the country impacted both private consumers and companies which reduced IT budgets. Public IT spending on IT under the national programmes dropped twice in 2009 and the number of programmes was reduced to 15 from 18 in 2008. Spending from the local budgets was also limited to maintenance and support. “Ukrainian government even issued a letter in 2010 forbidding regional authorities to buy computers” – adds Pawel Olszynka, an IT&Telecoms market analyst at PMR.
In 2009, there was actually one significant IT project in the country related to the development of IT infrastructure for Donbass Arena, the sport stadium built for Euro 2012 Football Cup. Ukrainian corporate sector recovered IT spending only in 2010, implementing mainly the postponed projects due to uncertainty related to the economic crisis.
One of the key features of the Ukrainian IT market is its very strong hardware orientation. Last year, an estimated share of hardware sales in the total sales on the Ukrainian IT market reached almost 80%, while IT services and software had 12.7% and 7.5% shares, respectively. Significant share of the hardware in total IT spending became one of the reasons for sharp market decline in 2009 when the customers massively postponed an upgrade of their computers for better times or cancelled new spending on the hardware.
The share of hardware spending in the total demand for IT products and services in Ukraine also indicates low hardware market maturity, especially in the households. In 2010, there were approximately 20-21 personal computers per 100 of population in the country. This means that hardware spending will continue playing an important role in Ukraine during the next several years. One the other hand the low hardware maturity in the country also explains high volatility of the sales on the market. The decline in the sales in the segments of software and IT services was much smaller in comparison to the hardware sales in 2009. Hardware sales experienced a sharp decline in the retail segment, and smaller contraction of corporate IT spending helped to maintain software and services market. Still, in 2010, when Ukrainian economy gained some stability, consumers restarted to buy laptops pushing the market up.
In 2011-2012 the Ukrainian IT market is expected to maintain its dynamic growth. The Euro 2012 soccer cup, industrial cooperation projects with Russia and also the recovery of banking financing are expected to drive economic recovery and, as a result, demand for IT. Two years of crisis led to an accumulation of significant so-called postponed demand for IT systems, which is going to come to the IT market in 2011-2012. The managers of Ukrainian IT companies PMR canvassed have also recently become more optimistic and confident in the sales growth in 2011-2012.

For further information chceck PMR report:IT market in Ukraine 2011 http://www.pmrpublications.com/online_shop/IT-market-Ukraine-2011.shtml

PMR (www.pmrcorporate.com) is a British-American company providing market information, advice and services to international businesses interested in Central and Eastern European countries as well as other emerging markets. PMR's key areas of operation include business publications (through PMR Publications), consultancy (through PMR Consulting) and market research (through PMR Research). Being present on the market since 1995, employing highly skilled staff, offering high international standards in projects and publications, providing one of most frequently visited and top-ranked websites, PMR is one of the largest companies of its type in the region.

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This release was published on openPR.