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🇦🇷 Argentina /Economy & Trade

Argentina Still Has Higher Food and Service Prices, but Other Goods Have Become Cheaper

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Documents & data Context piece
  • A comparison with nine countries found that Argentina’s relative price gap narrowed sharply for durable goods, clothing and footwear, although many remain more expensive than abroad.
  • The share of analyzed cases in which Argentina was more expensive fell from 96% in March 2025 to 74% last month, while the average gap dropped from 91% to 40%.
  • Food and services moved differently: food prices were 16% above comparison markets in August, while Argentina remained more expensive than other countries in 48% of food comparisons.

Argentina is becoming less expensive in some categories that had long been prohibitive for local consumers, even as basic foods and services remain relatively costly in dollar terms. A study by economists Marcelo Capello and Gaspar Reyna of the Ieral Foundation compared prices in Argentina with those in nine other countries.

The sharpest narrowing occurred in durable consumer goods. Cars, motorcycles, household appliances, clothing and footwear are still generally more expensive than in other markets, but the gap is smaller than it was little more than a year ago. Food and services have followed a different path. After becoming cheaper in relative terms during 2025, they became more expensive again.

When the measurements began in March 2025, Argentina was more expensive than Brazil, Chile, Mexico, the United States, Australia, South Korea, Poland and China in 96% of the cases examined. Last month, that share had fallen to 74%. The average price deviation from the other markets also dropped sharply, from 91% to 40%.

The economists attribute the shift to a more open economy, the removal of quantitative import restrictions, lower tariffs and some reductions in domestic taxes. In the affected products, they say, those changes outweighed the dollar-price increases caused by exchange-rate movements.

Food prices in Argentina stood 16% above the other markets in August, compared with 2% in December. The average gap for durable goods, clothing and footwear was 40%, down from 91% in March 2025. The gap for personal and household services was close to zero last month, after standing 9% below the comparison markets in May 2025 and 4% below them in April. The report says import duties, restrictions on incoming goods, value-added tax, provincial taxes, municipal fees and specific taxes continue to raise final prices. Argentina was more expensive in 48% of the food comparisons. Brazil was cheaper in nine of 10 products, while China was cheaper in 90% of cases.

Import duties, restrictions on incoming goods, value-added tax, provincial taxes, municipal fees and specific taxes

· Marcelo Capello and Gaspar ReynaThe economists’ description of the charges and restrictions that keep final prices high.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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