Waiting for the information inflation from INDEC, a report was released that revealed that In February, agri-food prices multiplied by 3.4 times. That is, consumers paid $3.4 for every $1 of difference between the place of origin of the product and the shelf.
The data arises from the survey carried out month by month by the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME), through the Price Index at Origin and Destination (IPOD) prepared by the Regional Economies sector of the institution.
On average, producer participation explained 28% of final sales prices. The greatest participation was had by the producers of chicken (61.5%), while the lowest was for those of lemon (10.1%).
Inflation: what was the gap in food prices in February
The fruit and vegetable IPOD measured the prices of the 19 fruits and vegetables that make up the basket of products and verified that they multiplied by 4.9 times in Februarywhich represents a decrease of 14.3% compared to January.
Regarding the livestock IPOD, For the 5 livestock products and by-products that make up the basket, the consumer paid 2.9 times more than what the producer received, that is, 10.3% less than last month.
It should be noted that according to the CAME Retail Sales Indexsales of Food and Beverages category fell 33.3% annually in February, reflecting the fall in purchasing power and the lack of price validation by the consumer. That is, the decline is explained by a decline in demand.
Furthermore, during the first two months of the year, all links in the different value chains have seen their profitability affected by strong increases in costs, not only due to the devaluation, but also to the increase in transportation and logistics, among others.
Food: larger and smaller price gaps in February
Among the products with the largest gaps, CAME observed that there were more increases in the lemon (9.9 times), the garlic (8.1), the Red Apple (6,6), the zucchini (6.3) and the pear (6.2), were the five products that presented the greatest difference between origin and destination prices.
He lemondue to an excess of supply that will also be replicated in sweet citrus – given the good harvest prospect -, presented a drop in prices for both the producer (45.1%) and the consumer (11.2%), while the garlic It only presented variations in gondola, registering an increase of 6.8%.
For their part, the pome fruits -in a new harvest and pricing season for 2024- behaved differently. The apple presented an increase both at origin (11.5%) and at destination (14.3%), but the pear It only increased for the producer (14.1%), since it decreased for the consumer by 5.4%.
Lastly, the zucchinia product that rose at both ends of the chain: 34.2% at origin and 21.2% at destination.
Among the products with the smallest gap There are three fruit and vegetable crops and two of animal origin. The latter are the chicken (1,6) and the egg (1.8), products that generally have an integrated production system – all actors in their respective value chains are part of the business risk – increased both at origin and destination.
He chicken it rose 0.5% in gondola and 73.8% at origin, due to a rearrangement of prices; while the egg it increased 31.9% for the producer and 19.4% for the consumer.
For his part, the cabbage and the Strawberry They also increased their prices at both ends of the chain: 7% and 10.2% to the producer, while on the gondola they showed an increase of 37% and 1.4% respectively.
Lastly, the peppera vegetable whose prices fell 31.5% at origin and 0.7% to the consumer.
Source: Ambito
