Usa: frame market flat in Q1 for Vca member

The frame market appeared reluctant to take-off in the first quarter of this year. Following a unit growth recorded in the previous year, the Vca member frame shipments came back down in the first quarter of 2004, slightly falling by 0.2 percent.

Shipments value, on the other hand, posted a flat growth of 0.1 percent following a decline in 2003. The soft frame market was mostly driven by the premium (brand and metal) products, while consumer preference continued to shift over to the value-priced (non-brand and plastic frames).

Average prices are generally on a downtrend although they recovered slightly by 0.3 percent from last year's levels.