Food prices are amongst the highest of the planet

[FrankPintor]

Sometimes you need to eat, I guess. This is our local motorway service station:

Un concepto argentino que transforma la experiencia de “parar en la ruta” recibió un premio internacional

Lion Place está cambiando los espacios de servicios para los automovilistas y residentes en zonas suburbanas. Su propuesta innovadora le valió el reconocimiento internacional como la mejor Tienda de Conveniencia del Año 2023 de América Latina

www.infobae.com

More or less zero ambiance of course but prices 25% less than MacD or BK for much better food. MacD is shocking for its crappy quality here in Argentina. If I really need fast food, I try to get a salad from Subway.

 

[FrankPintor]

Fat Frank will be eating fish and chips for the next 4 years I guess:

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How could anyone hate chips? Instant disqualification. And where can I get those cones?

 

[perry]

Food is a great joy in life and this city Buenos Aires is famous for its parrillas and great local food . Nowadays most people cannot afford to eat out and most restaurants now seem empty . What is surprising for most people I know is how expensive simple foods are here like ramen, rice dishes . fried chicken dishes etc etc . These foods are cheap dishes worldwide but in Buenos Aires they are inching nearly 20 dollars a plate in many places . Peruvian food is one clear example of this disparity . Two national dishes antichucos and ceviche if you eat both expect to pay at least 30 dollars per person . Antichuchos are now 10 dollars a plate for a small entree size and ceviche also never a main serving is over 20 dollars per plate in most peruvian restaurants . To put this in perspective this same meal just 12 months ago was 15 dollars but with the dollar inflation we have now its more than double in that currency . Ramen a dirt cheap dish in Asia is like 14 dollars a serving here for a miniscule porcion from two or three ramen places in San Telmo or Palermo .

I have attached the prices of this dish here in Buenos Aires and below the price for something comparable US$ 4,50 in Japan showing a whopping difference in price and with much larger servings .

https://www.rappi.com.ar/restaurantes/130225-saigon-noodle-bar Buenos Aires price US$ 13 per ramen small serving

Japan US$ 4,50 per ramen much more generous serving

 

[AdrianB]

Yeah the whole thing is truly ridiculous at this point, starting from fast food and the things you mentioned. I don't understand how it is supposed to work. Either most people in BA earn around 2-3 million pesos per month or the current situation is heading towards a hard crash. Who are these restaurant going to stay open and pay their employees for if people can't afford it?

Burgers are the best example for me, those are made from beef which is cheap here, made by employees that are paid much lower than US/Europe yet they want me to pay 12$+ for a burger? Guess who is making bank from this.

 

[perry]

Milk in Argentina compared to milk in Germany. If you want to buy a organic milk expect to pay 3 times as much per litre . The price difference compared to wages in Argentina and Germany is on the graph attached

 

[LuckyLuke]

Food is a great joy in life and this city Buenos Aires is famous for its parrillas and great local food . Nowadays most people cannot afford to eat out and most restaurants now seem empty . What is surprising for most people I know is how expensive simple foods are here like ramen, rice dishes . fried chicken dishes etc etc . These foods are cheap dishes worldwide but in Buenos Aires they are inching nearly 20 dollars a plate in many places . Peruvian food is one clear example of this disparity . Two national dishes antichucos and ceviche if you eat both expect to pay at least 30 dollars per person . Antichuchos are now 10 dollars a plate for a small entree size and ceviche also never a main serving is over 20 dollars per plate in most peruvian restaurants . To put this in perspective this same meal just 12 months ago was 15 dollars but with the dollar inflation we have now its more than double in that currency . Ramen a dirt cheap dish in Asia is like 14 dollars a serving here for a miniscule porcion from two or three ramen places in San Telmo or Palermo .

I have attached the prices of this dish here in Buenos Aires and below the price for something comparable US$ 4,50 in Japan showing a whopping difference in price and with much larger servings .

https://www.rappi.com.ar/restaurantes/130225-saigon-noodle-bar Buenos Aires price US$ 13 per ramen small serving

Japan US$ 4,50 per ramen much more generous serving

You bring some interesting points, however I think there you are conflating two separate factors. Domestic inflation (within Argentina) and foreign exchange rates (Peso / USD). Some here (like myself) who thought that the economy was essentially dollarized before Milei bought into the blue rate as a justification for inflationary increases...until the dollar froze....and the peso increases kept coming regardless. Obviously there a complicated factors for each of these phenomenon which sometimes intertwine and sometimes not. The Banco Central's decision to reduce the federal interest rate causing renewed interest in the dollar as an investment vehicle, could explain the recent blue rate bump, but has little to do with the price of Orange Juice (which is from collapsing production in both Brazil & Florida). The overvalued peso can cause domestic costs to increase for food production but also should decrease the cost of foreign imports for food productions such as fertilizer or equipment. IMO the ecosystem of raw producers, refineries/factories, distributors, middle men, grocery stores, restaurants, and ultimately private buyers are all squeezing whatever profit loss they can bear until something eventually breaks (costs exceed available capital) up the food chain. Restaurants will go out of business, grocery stores will pare down unsellable offerings, factories will limit processing of unprofitable selections, producers will adjust crops or product to only profitable essentials. In time, this shedding of nonessential product offering (or belt tightening across all strata) may overproduce in enough overlapping sectors to reduce prices. It takes time for the whole chain to pivot and retool to recessionary forces. Again, just my thoughts. The peso/dollar dynamic I think deserves a whole separate analysis as a foreign trade mechanism and how politics have sought to highjack foreign reserves to disguise inflation for political gain.

 

[perry]

Yeah the whole thing is truly ridiculous at this point, starting from fast food and the things you mentioned. I don't understand how it is supposed to work. Either most people in BA earn around 2-3 million pesos per month or the current situation is heading towards a hard crash. Who are these restaurant going to stay open and pay their employees for if people can't afford it?

Burgers are the best example for me, those are made from beef which is cheap here, made by employees that are paid much lower than US/Europe yet they want me to pay 12$+ for a burger? Guess who is making bank from this.

You bring some interesting points, however I think there you are conflating two separate factors. Domestic inflation (within Argentina) and foreign exchange rates (Peso / USD). Some here (like myself) who thought that the economy was essentially dollarized before Milei bought into the blue rate as a justification for inflationary increases...until the dollar froze....and the peso increases kept coming regardless. Obviously there a complicated factors for each of these phenomenon which sometimes intertwine and sometimes not. The Banco Central's decision to reduce the federal interest rate causing renewed interest in the dollar as an investment vehicle, could explain the recent blue rate bump, but has little to do with the price of Orange Juice (which is from collapsing production in both Brazil & Florida). The overvalued peso can cause domestic costs to increase for food production but also should decrease the cost of foreign imports for food productions such as fertilizer or equipment. IMO the ecosystem of raw producers, refineries/factories, distributors, middle men, grocery stores, restaurants, and ultimately private buyers are all squeezing whatever profit loss they can bear until something eventually breaks (costs exceed available capital) up the food chain. Restaurants will go out of business, grocery stores will pare down unsellable offerings, factories will limit processing of unprofitable selections, producers will adjust crops or product to only profitable essentials. In time, this shedding of nonessential product offering (or belt tightening across all strata) may overproduce in enough overlapping sectors to reduce prices. It takes time for the whole chain to pivot and retool to recessionary forces. Again, just my thoughts. The peso/dollar dynamic I think deserves a whole separate analysis as a foreign trade mechanism and how politics have sought to highjack foreign reserves to disguise inflation for political gain.

I understand exactly economics and the current system is completely unviable . You cannot destroy a system and then expect it to rise from the ashes . A economy can look good on paper but for the middle class of Argentina they are living today a a greatly diminished life . This will not get better in the short term as this destruction of all fundamental controls of society only brings misery to the populace . What this current government is trying to do has never ever been done before and its a economic plan that the elite favour as their goal is that there is a small elite class and the rest of us are serfs struggling to survive . Food prices are extremely important as they are necesities of life to make you feel alive and healthy . Many people are now eating once a day and only the most junkiest of food . This is good for a country ? Unemployment is rising dramatically and by all accounts over 30% of small business are in serious problems . These are the backbone of a society as it takes away the indepence of the human spirit which is the meaning of true capitalism . Those who work for multinational companies or in the resource sector will prosper of course but how many people can be employed in these sectors ? Most people need to have a base to survive and by destructing the middle class which comprise of small and medium size businesses you have the ultimate mad max society !

 

[Redpossum]

What this current government is trying to do has never ever been done before and its a economic plan that the elite favour as their goal is that there is a small elite class and the rest of us are serfs struggling to survive .

This, exactly, a return to feudalism. This highlights the fact that the whole Left vs Right paradigm is a distraction. The great struggle of the 21st century is the ultra-rich, (and their lackeys), against the rest of humanity.

 

[LuckyLuke]

I understand exactly economics and the current system is completely unviable . You cannot destroy a system and then expect it to rise from the ashes . A economy can look good on paper but for the middle class of Argentina they are living today a a greatly diminished life . This will not get better in the short term as this destruction of all fundamental controls of society only brings misery to the populace . What this current government is trying to do has never ever been done before and its a economic plan that the elite favour as their goal is that there is a small elite class and the rest of us are serfs struggling to survive . Food prices are extremely important as they are necesities of life to make you feel alive and healthy . Many people are now eating once a day and only the most junkiest of food . This is good for a country ? Unemployment is rising dramatically and by all accounts over 30% of small business are in serious problems . These are the backbone of a society as it takes away the indepence of the human spirit which is the meaning of true capitalism . Those who work for multinational companies or in the resource sector will prosper of course but how many people can be employed in these sectors ? Most people need to have a base to survive and by destructing the middle class which comprise of small and medium size businesses you have the ultimate mad max society !

Hi Perry,

I don't disagree with anything you wrote. It could apply to virtually any country. Austrian economics as a system is not "unviable". A system where the government runs foreign reserves into the ground to subsidize every sector through fiscal deficits isn't "viable" either. IMO the true problem here is the extreme shift from one to the other. I haven't heard any coherent explanation as to why "gradualismo" wasn't possible under Milei. Unless foreign reserves were so negative that it was about to cripple the foreign import sector. Using the people's suffering to build a government fiscal surplus to buy used military jets is extremely out of touch too. A more careful approach should have been taken. Massa should have never frozen the crawling peg and Milei could have accelerated the crawling peg too instead of such an extreme overnight devaluation. Plenty of blame to go around.

 

[LuckyLuke]

This, exactly, a return to feudalism. This highlights the fact that the whole Left vs Right paradigm is a distraction. The great struggle of the 21st century is the ultra-rich, (and their lackeys), against the rest of humanity.

Amazon is the second largest employer in the US. Is Jeff Bezos a feudal lord for leveraging the internet to make shopping more convenient? Is the proletariat oppressed by the bourgeoisie having everything delivered to their doorstep? I would say things are much more complicated than such broad ideological brush strokes.