“Consumption does not rebound after the little rebound we had towards the end of 2024 and the first quarter of this year. We have registered a fall compared to May of last year, which was already coming with more than 7% decline. It is a fall on another fall”Said Salvador Female, Came’s press secretary, in dialogue with Radio Rivadavia.
SMEs: Despite promotions and better financing, consumption remains stagnant
Female said that merchants support their sales by force of promotions, such as discounts of up to 50% even in seasonal products and plans of up to 12 installments, but that is not enough. “Profitability is very small and costs a lot of fixed costs, which increased by rates updates. The tax burden is still the same, but with much smaller margins”, He explained.
He also remarked that the situation is aggravated because consumers have less economic availability. “Today 50% of people do not arrive at the end of the month, and that is what is at the bottom of everything. It is not enough to offer quotas or discounts if there is no money in your pocket”, He concluded.
Finally, he referred to the government’s promise to relieve tax pressure: “Since Milei arrived, taxes were not lowered, on the contrary: the profits joined. The president himself had said that he was going to cut an arm if he created a new tax, and yet he did it. This tax structure undermines the final price and deepens the drop in consumption, ”he said.
Consumer drop does not stop in provinces and already affects essential food
The fall in consumption is the common denominator that faces commercial activity in Corrientes, Santiago del Estero, Jujuy and Catamarcaprovinces in which the centrals of different items warn that the main cause is the loss of the purchasing power of salaries. “The purchasing power of the people is very low, no matter how much prices are lowered,” said Daniel Occhionero, president of the Frutihortícola market of Santiago del Estero.
Maximiliano Beigbeder, from Corrientes and President of the House of Wholesale Distributors of the NEA, described the stage as “Paupérrimo”during an interview in Radionord and revealed that in May the interannual fall of consumption ranged between 10% and 12%. “But the most alarming thing is that it is no longer only luxury or expendable products, but also basic foods such as bread, meat, chicken, oil and frozen products,” he said.
“Everything is very depressed. Today even the first -need products come with a strong fall,” he synthesized and pointed out that the retraction is not perceived only in the Correntina capital, but also and with more crudeness inside, where logistics costs make it unfeasible to sustain operations. “A commercial tour costs you $ 300,000, which involves loading fuel, accommodation and food, it is impossible,” Beigbeder said, while acknowledging that even large supermarkets are “very beaten” by the situation.
Source: Ambito
