In front of the blackboard of a greengrocer in Olivos, where two kilos of apples are offered for 3 thousand dollars; two packs of spinach for $1,200 and two kilos of bananas for $2,500, a customer complains about the exuberant value of the cherries, which are not part of the promotions displayed in chalk to encourage sales. Then, with little argument, the salesman tries to use cold words to eclipse the reticent attitude of the rest of the customers: “And so. “The increases have moderated slightly this month”He says.
The scene shows the “thermal sensation” of what is happening with prices in most companies today, according to what private consultancy firms and the experience of traders also reveal. It happens that, after the inflationary flight that broke out on December 10, when Javier Milei assumed the presidency, In the last weeks of January the trend turned towards a slight slowdown in increases. Even if they are clearly not “short”.
The consultancy Eco Go, for example, found that, on average, food has accumulated an increase of 18.8%, a figure that incorporates the strong resistance of December equal to 12.9%. And LCG itself – which detects online prices in supermarkets – highlighted, in its latest report, that there has been an increase 23.1% in the last four weeks.
Daniel Acuña, owner of a warehouse in the municipality of Punta Alta, 680 kilometers from Buenos Aires, says: “In January, Companies reported increases, but lower than those in December. They were in the order of 12-15%,” she explains.
The trader then remembers that most of the food he sells in his shop doubled in value in the turbulent days of December. “Some suppliers now offer us promotions on products that have a short expiry date. For example, a latte that costs $880, that’s why we offer it at $600. The truth is that Lists with increases continue to arrive, but they have relaxed the increase levels a bit,” He says.
The positive thing, according to the trader, is that the shops sell more. “People live day by day because they don’t have enough money and take advantage of discounts from virtual wallets or banks. With this, we are selling a little more,” to describe.
““What there is is a slowdown in increases, but not a decline in prices,” On the other hand, summarizes a supermarket source. “It happened like this suppliers intervened to recover the price gap that the chains had with the traditional channel, which was around 40%. “That’s why the price increases were stronger in supermarkets. And he made the difference: while in December, for example, there were 30,000 price changes, this month there are no more than 10,000. That is, the process of increase has slowed down,” he said.
Unlike what happened in stores, the decline in sales was felt most on the shelves. In one of the large chains on the market they talk about an average decrease of 20%. And they estimate that the increases will also have a ceiling: “The next step, towards mid-February, promotions are likely to return so that the sales volume does not decrease so much,” he explained.
Even in the kiosks, a relative “moderation” of inflation was experienced Concerns remain about the persistence of the increaseseven though in January the pressures were lower than in December.
Ernesto Acuña, owner of a kiosk belonging to the UKRA in Villa Urquiza, comments: “January started with an average of 20%. This is the increase of Arcor, which provides 80% of the candy in a kiosk. The rest is Mondelez merchandise,” she says.
“The increases are always at the beginning of the month. For February, with the increases in electricity bills, refrigerated products will increase. The waters have already risen by 30% and now we expect a strong increase from Coca Cola and then Pepsi will certainly do so too. A small bottle of soda will range from $900 to $1,200 and a bottle of water will be close to $1,000.
According to the trader, “there is no more room for further increases because when everything increases, sales decrease. We try to make promotions but we can’t lag too far behind,” she acknowledged.
Furthermore, from today A 20% increase in bread is added. “Unfortunately we have no other alternative, given the repeated increases we suffer daily in inputs and raw materials,” explained Martín Pinto, president of the Bakery Industrial Center of the city of Merlo in Buenos Aires.
“Every week we have constant increases of 5%, 2%, 3% percent, and this seems to have no end,” the leader said. Therefore, from today, The suggested price per pound of bread will be $1,800 at neighborhood bakeries. “But we do not exclude that in the coming weeks we will have to increase our prices again,” warned the bakery products leader.
SN
Source: Clarin
