The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, recently revealed in a television interview that “due to the anxiety” he suffered during the election campaign, he drank seven cans of soda a day. "In addition, I added sugar," the president added. Once in office, giving up the habit led him to lose nine kilos. "At this rate I'm finishing skin and bone," Milei said ironically. However, the far-right president He was not the only one who abandoned the consumption of soft drinks of this type in Argentina.
Since his inauguration, sales of well-known companies in the sector have collapsed and the crisis forces the country's supermarkets to offer the product so that it does not spoil on the shelves. Currently, a 354 ml can of soda in Spain costs €0.95, while in Argentina it costs €1.24. Food inflation during the three months of Milei's government has already accumulated 74.8%.
In the government's opinion, supermarket price increases are “excessive” and do not reflect “the new economic reality” of Argentina. But the truth is that at least five million people in the country, mostly children, are hungry and do not eat the minimum required amount of food per day.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina (INDEC), supermarket sales closed last year with a drop of 6.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. Retail sales of small and medium-sized companies experienced a drop of 28.5% year-on-year in January and 25.5% in February, according to the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME).
“Argentina, in euros, is more expensive than Spain,” said influencer Lucas Hudak (@travel_luke) on TikTok. The young Argentine who travels the world shared a video in which he compares prices between a supermarket in his country of origin and a Spanish one. He discovered that products such as milk, noodles, beer, tomato puree and breadcrumbs were considerably more expensive in Argentina than in Spain. For example, a carton of milk that in Spain is available for €0.91, in Argentina costs €0.99.
Manu Guija (@manuguija), a young Argentine living in Madrid, carried out the same experiment on his networks. “Argentina is very spicy,” said Guija in reference to the high prices of supermarket products. “The problem is that in Spain the minimum wage is €1,134,” says the influencer, in contrast to the approximately €200 that constitutes the minimum wage in Argentina.
Faced with the challenging economic scenario and after a meeting between the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, and representatives of the country's main supermarket chains, Javier Milei's government decided to release imports of food, medicines and other basic goods. Its objective, as announced by the presidential spokesperson, is “to make prices more competitive for the benefit of Argentine families and consumers.”
“The announcement seriously affects the competitiveness of companies that operate, produce and employ in the country,” warned the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) in a statement. The organization that represents the Argentine manufacturing sector said that the measure implies “unequal treatment” for industrialists in relation to importers.
Argentine manufacturers pay for inputs in four monthly installments with taxes, while importers of final products do not have taxes and access foreign currency in a single 30-day payment. Some businessmen fear that the measure will wipe out a sector already hit by the crisis and cause the bankruptcy of thousands of businesses, especially small and medium-sized companies.
