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How consumption reaches June: food prices that accelerate, demand that remains reduced and abandoned categories - Infobae
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Cómo llega el consumo a junio: precios de alimentos que se aceleran, una demanda que sigue retraída y categorías abandonadas
Los datos preliminares de mayo de los supermercados marcan la misma tendencia, con una leve desaceleración en la caída. Pesan fuertes las promociones en muchos rubros. Cuáles son los rubros que más caen. Qué pasó en mayo con los precios de los alimentos estacionales
www.infobae.com
May 31, 2024
Preliminary data for May from supermarkets show the same trend, with a slight slowdown in the decline. Promotions in many areas weigh heavily. What are the items that fall the most? What happened in May with seasonal food prices
By Natalia Donato
Supermarkets began to incorporate, although very little by little, products from other origins (REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian)
Although May showed an improvement in sales of some items compared to April, which would indicate that the floor has already been reached, the outlook for mass consumption is still negative and uncertain. Companies producing food, beverages, cosmetics and cleaning stopped the sharp rise in prices, and in some cases lowered them with aggressive promotions, which they are doing jointly with supermarket chains, but even so sales remained about 10 points this month. lower than the same period last year.
“The trend is the same; perhaps slightly better compared to April, but there is no notable change,” several sources in the sector agreed.
The jump in the values of mass consumption products during the first months of the year, added to the recomposition of other prices, such as prepaid bills, public services or fuel, for example, caused salaries to lose a great purchasing power. . And although in the last two months a clear inflationary slowdown was noted, and there were foods that even went down, pockets are still thin and consumers are not only choosing cheaper brands but there are already products that they do not consume.
The so-called indulgent products or “ on the go ” – which are bought on the go –, such as candy, suffered a sharp drop so far this year, and although the low temperatures that May brought attenuated the contraction, they still The 20% decrease in volumes is felt, they recognize in companies in the sector. It also happened with desserts, which recorded sales drops of 40%, and also in alcoholic beverages, whose decrease was around 30%.
Sweets had an average contraction of 20%, according to sector sources
According to a report by the consulting firm Nielsen, until April the products that grew the least or fell the most, within the food category, were mousses, baking bags, sweeteners, desserts and custards to prepare and powders to prepare ice cream; while the most affected items within the beverage category were, until the fourth month of the year, ready-to-drink juices, concentrated juices, beers and chocolate and flavored milks.
Regarding sweets, chewing gum, peanuts with chocolate, eggs and chocolate figures and garnishes for snacks were mentioned as the most affected, although the companies that manufacture sweets emphasize that the falls are homogeneous. within the category. In home cleaning, in turn, air deodorants and disinfectants, fabric softeners, liquid detergents and cleaners, and fine washing products appear; and in cosmetics and toiletries, those that grow the least or fall the most are facial creams, disposable diapers, suntan lotion, tampons and body creams, according to the consultant.
Food categories are the ones that suffer the least from the decrease in purchasing power, since they have a more inelastic demand. What does happen is that the migration to second, third and own brands occurs. Furthermore, since the Government made food imports more flexible – giving them financial advantages – supermarkets began to incorporate, although very little by little, products from other origins. This made prices become more competitive and a sharp drop in inflation was observed in the sector. In fact, April CPI data showed an increase in food and beverages of 6%, against 8.8% for the general index.
What happened in May with these prices? The data managed by the Government on the evolution of food prices show that the basket with fresh products showed, as of the 28th of this month, an acceleration compared to the same period in April; although far from the March number. And the private ones register the same. In fact, the consulting firm EcoGo admitted that they were seeing an acceleration in food compared to last month. While in April they registered an increase of 5.6%, for May they estimate 5.9 percent.
“This week we saw a jump compared to previous ones. There were several things that drove this change, part of it has to do with a certain recovery in the prices of food consumed outside the home; Another part responds to increases in the price of vegetables, which tend to behave this way at this time of year. And we also saw increases in chicken and bread products,” said sources from the consulting firm. Regarding price drops, although there are products that show this trend, this week they detected that the number of products that showed negative variations was less than last week; and the same if you compare it to four weeks ago.
In LCG, which also surveys prices every week, they also registered an acceleration in the last one. “Based on the latest data from last week, a floor was reached in the decline in the four-week accumulated inflation rate, as a result of the 1.8% increase last week. We must validate if it is maintained this week,” said economist Javier Okseniuk .
