The large supermarket chains They have become strong food importers. An area in which they practically did not participate until the current opening of trade borders.
The Dynamics are remarkable: It comes amid the boom in imported goods hitting stores.
What is new is that until now the big chains have supplied their groceries local suppliers. Imported products could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
“We came from years without a dollar, with exchange rate uncertainty and controls on everything.” Purchases abroad. Nadir brought food from outside. “The equation has now changed and in many cases similar products are imported at cheaper prices,” says the managing director of a supermarket chain when asked iProfessional.
The meat case was specific. Outside this area, companies have turned to various alternatives. From Italian and Albanian pasta to Spanish oils and French cookies. Deli shopping is also booming to expand the customer niche.
The data corresponds to index and customs and was compiled by the STRESS (Center for Argentine Political Economy).
Who buys; how much they buy
Between January and September this year, major chains brought in around $91 million worth of food from abroad. Some supermarkets -like Carrefour- had imported practically no food in recent years, with a few exceptions. This year they brought everything from canned goods to bread and oils. And beers.
Preserve, The year 2024 has already started with some upswings in food imports, increasing this volume by 32%. External purchasing of baked goods grew the most: it multiplied 8.7 times. This chain is the one that brought the largest amount of food from abroad: a total of $31 million.
In the case of Cencosudwhich also included food imports last year, increased its purchases abroad by 216% between last January and September. Canned fish and fruit as well as baked goods were the products that increased the most.
Remarkably – or less so – baked goods are a niche in which the prices of the local products They are much more expensive than those from other countries (usually Brazil).
Other items that found their way onto Argentine shelves were pasta. Here the equation is mind-boggling, as this is an area where there is a wide range of prices (and quality) in Argentina. However, there are cases like in Carrefour, where Italian pasta is sold under the chain’s own brand. Something similar happens at Día, but with beers that sell their own branded products made in Germany.
Import boom
The import of Consumer goods By September last year, it reached its record high since 2004, according to official Indec figures.
The Purchases abroad Sales of consumer goods for the full January-September period reached $8,376 million, the highest amount in the past 21 years, according to a CEPA report based on official data.
The previous record for imports of consumer goods was in 2018. Compared to the first nine months of this year, this time there was an increase of 25.3%.
The meat case
To combat the Rise of Meat In recent weeks, various supermarket chains have increased their imports of imported grilled food. There will no longer be “stripes” exclusively from Brazil. It also began purchasing Uruguayan and Paraguayan grilled foods, which are available at cheaper prices in Argentina.
The difference is remarkable: Compared to the $16,000 to $18,000 that a kilo of roast costs in butcher chains, imported roast costs between $10,500 and $12,000.
These Brazilian or Paraguayan cuts are available in supermarket chains. The kilo of Uruguayan meat It usually costs around $14,000, but is also usually of better quality.
According to Indec, meat was among the items that rose the most in November – between 9.3% and 13.0%. Imports are trying to cool this trend. Andres Costamagna, Director of the Rural Society and active cattle breeder, said iProfessional that the rise in meat prices will hit another setback before the end-of-year holidays.
According to Costamagna, this additional increase would reach 5% in the next two weeks.
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