Fipe/Cushion: prices of electronics show negative annual variation of - 2.3%

According to the Fipe/Cushion Price Index, the prices of electronic products sold in Brazilian e-commerce registered an annual fall of 2.3% in March 2025. The index is based on research that continuously monitors 47 categories and more than 2 million offers with data from the country's main price comparator, Buscape.

After a stabilization of the annual falls in the previous 3 months, this decrease continues the downward trend observed since April 2024. Given the importance of the exchange rate for the formation of prices in the sector, this movement reflects the appreciation of the dollar, which was 15% in the annual period ended in March 2025, but reached 23% in January.

Sergio Crispim, a FIPE researcher, comments that the impact of exchange rates on sector prices is significant. “Sespecially in segments with greater dependence on imported inputs, the dollar's appreciation puts pressure on costs, which ends up directly influencing the behavior of prices to the final consumer.In the last three months, we have observed exchange rate fluctuations that, added to the recent movement of generalized price increases, and instability in the global tariff system, make it difficult to predict the behavior of the index in the coming months”, he says.

In March, the Fipe/Buscape Index fell monthly - 0.480%, practically identical to the fall of - 0.478% verified in February 2025. In the 39-month series of the indicator, there was an increase in prices in only nine months, and four of these increases occurred in the last seven months, as illustrated in Chart 2, also reflecting the exchange pressure on the prices of the segment.

Computer technology is still impacted by the exchange rate
 

Only four categories had price increase in the annual period of March 2025 compared to March 2024: printer (3.8%), notebook (2.4%), air conditioning (0.5%) and stove (0.1%). Among those that had a drop, stood out: electric fryer (-11.1%), TV (-5.1%), headset/headset (-4.9%) and mobile phones (43T).

The group of household appliances was greatly influenced by the annual increase of 0.52% in the prices of air conditioners, after three months of fall, according to Chart 4. Despite the positive annual variation, the prices of these products had a monthly fall of - 0.23% in March 2025.

The computer group remains one of the most impacted by the dollar appreciation and, after the annual fall peak of -13,1% in november 2023, has shown a downward trend reaching the positive annual variations of 1,0% in january, 0,3% in february and 1,4% in march 2025, as shown in Chart 5. This trend has occurred in most product categories of the group and, more particularly, in notebook and printer, which had annual variations of 2,4% and 3,81T respectively.

Francisco Donato, executive superintendent of Mosaic at Banco PAN, highlights the need for the consumer to evaluate the best purchase opportunity.“Itens of computer science are part of the daily life of most of the population and serve the most varied functions. In this sense, it is important to analyze the best moment of purchase, the cost-benefit and the price variations of this category that has prices strongly impacted by the changes in the exchange rate”, he analyzes.

Chart 1 ^ Annual Variations of the Fipe/Sneaker Price Index for Electronics

Chart 2 ^ Monthly Variations of the Fipe/Electronics Cufflink Price Index

Chart 3 ^ Annual Variations of Some Product Categories of the Fipe/Electronics Headset Price Index (March25/March24) 

Chart 4 - Annual and Monthly Variations in Air Conditioning Appliance Prices

Chart 5 - Annual and Monthly Variations in Computer Prices

Source: Fipe / Buscape Price Index