One of life's big mysteries

[JoeBlow]

Why is food almost always equally or more expensive here than in the US? How do food prices here compare to those of other countries?

 

[Roxana]

When I was a child I heard that the biggest producers are also the major exporters so, they sell in the internal market at the same price they sell abroad. If not, we (in Argentina) will need protective measures from the government to put limits and maximum prices to products like food. I also remember from my childhood that when those proteccionist measures existed, there was not availability of the products included in the lists, which were sold at the mercado negro, at an non-affordable price. For instance, my parents had a pharmacy and bartered one meter of hidrobronz (a pipe made of bronze) in exchange for an antibiotic (both products were unavailable at first glance). Also I remember a neighbour that was the mistress of the intendente of the city, so the intendente sent to her a huge track (container size) full of food items, which she sold. I have the image now that because there was scarcity of matches, she counted ten or twenty matches to sell to each neighbour. Also there was scarcity of plastic bottles, so you had to take your empty bottle to buy from oil, to alcohol or the paper box to buy eggs. ( and be lucky to get some at whatever expensive price it was sold)
This was around 1973-1976.

 

[JoeBlow]

they sell in the internal market at the same price they sell abroad.

Ok, I asked a stupid question.

We need government intervention pronto!

 

[Amargo]

Actually the food export is HIGHLY protected, see "retenciones a la exportación". Somethig like 30% for wheat, 35% for soya, etc. The meat export is also HIGHLY restricted, otherwise prices would increase considerably. Meat, I think, is still very cheap in Argentina compared to other countries (1 kg of churrascos something like EUR 30,- in Germany). The drawback is that Argentina has been losing huge shares in the World market, mainly to Brazil (by the way, I have just been to Brazil again, meat still sucks there).

 

[JoeBlow]

Actually the food export is HIGHLY protected, see "retenciones a la exportación". Somethig like 30% for wheat, 35% for soya, etc. The meat export is also HIGHLY restricted, otherwise prices would increase considerably. Meat, I think, is still very cheap in Argentina compared to other countries (1 kg of churrascos something like EUR 30,- in Germany). The drawback is that Argentina has been losing huge shares in the World market, mainly to Brazil (by the way, I have just been to Brazil again, meat still sucks there).

Well, I think even meat has more than quadrupled since the devaluation; completely ridiculous in a country like this.

CasanCrem 8 pesos +

And the unexplainable rise in prices: yerba mate 9 pesos a kilo! That's a 5-fold increase. (It's not like they can even export much of it).

According to one economist I talked to, prices go up because people have money in their pocket (because they don't want to put in a bank).

Regardless, salaries haven't gone up 400% for most people. It's all a total shame and a crime which should at least make this government take on unchecked capitalism.

 

[MikeB12]

Well in the states food is so cheap for the most part, because many farming sectors are heavily subsidized.

I don't think its just evil farmers indiscriminately raising prices, their costs rise as well. Oil prices are higher, salaries of workers, transportation, fertilizers, etc. Plus if the gov't puts too many regulations on the agricultural industry and squeezes their profits, there is no incentive for more investment which equals more supply.

 

[estebandepraga]

hi to all
i travel for a living as an intl guide and i also live 6 mths per year in prague ( thus my name!) so i can compare
in prague, which is more expensive than germany for groceries generally the prices for 90% of everything is about 50% cheaper than in baires
i receive weekly flyers on line with current czech rpices and its unreal regarding the differences in costs: a kiwi costs 1 peso, liter of milk 2, even certain meat prices are cheaper
i pay max of 3 pesos per kilo of juice oranges, lemons are .50cents of a peso, limes .40 cents of a pesos(and many of these things are imported ever hear of czech lime or lemon trees?
its a disgrace that even the basics are out of reach for so many!
I can travel round trip from prague to berlin for 25usd thats the rpice 100 pesos for a one way ticket from retiro to rosario 4 hr domestic trip
and the list could go on and on!

 

[Liam3494]

Well, having been home in Ireland for a month at the beginning of the year, and doing some supermarket shopping there, I did note that prices there are far higher than here in BsAs on most products.

Without being a scientific study, I recall thinking that Chicken here is more expensive (but breasts are bigger for some reason - are the chickens here naturally larger?), coffee is similar in price, but vegetables here are MUCH cheaper.

I have just been to the verdulero this morning and spent 36 pesos on veggies and fruit for the week - Kilo of Onions, Kilo of apples, 1/2 kilo of bananas, lettuce, 1/2 kilo of tomatoes, couple of big red peppers (they sell at over 1 euro{AR$5.50} each back home, chilli's, a soup mix of various fresh veg, and the most expensive item, a pack of brussel Sprouts which were 5 pesos alone...

Back home that would have cost three times as much.. As said above, beef is cheap here, thanks to subsidies etc., and the quality is as good if not better than home (and we have a good beef industry in Ireland {but expensive}).

One thing that does get me when it comes to pricing here, is the price of clothes. I always felt that clothes prices at home were expensive, and used to buy a lot while travelling to the US rather than at home, but I note that here, despite the wages being much lower in general, clothes are on a par with Irish prices - Can't figure that one out.

 

[clooz]

I recall a radio program a year or so back in which someone described a simple test for what is food.

The test is, if your grandmother would recognize it as food, it's food, otherwise it's probably not food. It may be edible and taste good but it's probably not a good thing to substitute in place of food.

The increase of processed foods and non-foods that we are being sold to eat is imho one of the main causes of food price inflation. The foods compete for shelf space with processed-edible things, and for shipping space, storage space etc. The higher tax revenues on the longer value chain for non-foods makes governments favor non-foods. Food processors are like big pharma in the way they can influence governments and thus pricing and regulations. Stores favor the longer shelf life, the bar coding and all the rest.

So when talking about inflation and understanding pricing, I think it's helpful to simplify things by separating real food supplies like fruit, vegetables, scotch and fresh fish, from processed foods.

 

[Ries]

I think you are confusing inflation, which has made prices go up, with world prices.
Certainly, many many things are MORE expensive in the USA, while some things are cheaper.

Limes, for .40 pesos? I just bought limes yesterday in the USA, they were .79 ea- thats about 3 pesos each. I also bought some meat, $8.79 US a pound - thats what- 50 pesos a kilo?

The prague prices quoted are a tiny fraction of what I pay when I am in the USA.

Some things are cheap in Argentina, some things expensive.
Same thing with most any country, but, overall, if I skip expensive imports, and eat local, I eat cheaper in Buenos Aires than in the US.

Handmade fresh pasta in the USA is really really expensive- I have 3 choices within 2 blocks of my apartment in Buenos Aires, and all are at most 1/3 what I pay in the USA.

Beer and Liquor are very expensive in Argentina, but I suspect a good part of that is taxes.
But meat, and vegetables, are often much less than I pay in el norte.

Of course, the trick to reasonably priced, good food, anywhere, is eat local.
Any food that flies on an airplane costs a lot no matter where you live.

And any food that is gourmet, ditto.
My local goat cheese, from two miles away, is now up to around $24 US a pound- thats a two hundred pesos a kilo.
Copper River Salmon usually debuts at $24 a pound, flown in from Alaska- compare that to a bife de lomo.

Inflation, in local currency, is the big problem, but, in real dollars or euros, a lot of food in Argentina is still pretty cheap by world standards.

Mate up here is many times more than a measly 9 pesos a kilo- a half kilo of mate here would run at least 5 times that much money. They sell mate in teabags, and it costs something like 40 pesos for 30 of em.