According to the report, for the first time since June 2021, In September, mass consumption registered a contraction in the year-on-year comparisonhim: it was from 0.8%to accumulate an improvement of 3.2% in the first nine months of the year.
“This result was not a surprise, given that for two months the base of comparison has been positive and will continue in this way for several more months.. Therefore, challenging periods await us for the rest of the year”, they point out from Scentia.
The other outstanding aspect of the report is the difference that was perceived between the different marketing channels, “given that Supermarkets maintain their positive trend with a variation of +6% (even compared to a positive base similar to this number), while neighborhood businesses maintain a downward performance of -6.6% compared to the same month of 2021, compared to a base that was already beginning to be somewhat negative.
“We are going to find the explanation for this very different situation, to a great extent, in the price gap that widens month by month.”, pointed out the director of Scentia Osvaldo Del Río, who clarified that this price difference is not only reflected in the products reached by the Government programs, but it is “in almost everything”.
This is also reflected when analyzing the variations of the baskets of products and how they evolved between large chains and independent supermarkets: in “feeding”, while in large stores it grew 9.3% year-on-year in September, in smaller stores it fell 7.7%. In the category “breakfast and snack”, was 3.8% positive for chains and a drop of 7.7% for local businesses.
As for the “cleaning and household products”, it was 1.8% for some and a drop of 12.2% for others. Similar to what happened in “hygiene and cosmetics”: improvement of 2.9% in chains and collapse of 13.3% for independent supermarkets. The “drinks with alcohol”, grew 4.4% on the one hand and fell 5.1% on the other. Only the “impulsive” did not collapse in the smaller stores: they presented a slight rise of 0.4%, against an improvement of 11.9% in the large chains.
In the accumulated of the first nine months of the yearindependent supermarkets recorded growth of 3.3%, while chains had an improvement of 3.1%. Reality that, if what happened during September continues, will tend to change in the coming months.
The report also reveals that during September there was “a very different behavior between the different geographical areas.” “Regarding the weighted average price, we see a progression that speaks directly to the inflation rates that affect people’s pockets so much, reaching a year-on-year variation of almost 83%,” he concluded.
Prices and programs
“Consumption is the engine of the economy and trade its main support. While retail sales fall, according to the CAME 3.5%, in the retail stores traditional multi-items, in mass consumption, the situation is not better. And it has been reflected in the INDEC data on indigence, where the number of Argentines who do not complete a food basket is growing. The foods They have had an average monthly inflation of 6.2% so far this year,” said Damián Di Pace, director of Focus Market.
In order to contain the rise in food prices, the Government will launch the program “Fair Prices”. In fact, this week the Secretary of Commerce will meet with directors of the largest manufacturers of mass consumer goods to work on an agreement to keep prices fixed for between 1,200 and 1,500 productssuch as food, drinks, personal hygiene and cleaning, official sources confirmed to Télam.
Although the term of the agreement is not defined, estimated to be at least 90 daysin order to provide greater price certainty to face the coming months and deepen the scheme currently granted by the Care Prices program.
According to sources from the Ministry of Commerce led by Matías Tombolini, It is “an exceptional measure” but, in no case, it is a freezing, since it is not an imposition of a fixed price, but “a voluntary agreement with the businessmen”.
Source: Ambito
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