The United Nations Food Organization announced that in November food reached the highest increase on the planet in the last ten years
In pantries or markets, in traffic lights or in premises that are part of supermarket chains, consumers look for the most convenient for their pocket when buying food, which never stopped being demanded during the global confinement by the COVID pandemic -19.
Mobility restrictions and speculation generated an increase in the general price of food between the months of March and August 2020 in Ecuador compared to the same period in 2019, according to the inflation report of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
Was cost reduction between September 2020 and August 2021, except for February; but last November the third consecutive month of new increases was registered.
It is a trend that is observed worldwide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which declared November as the fourth consecutive month in which food prices on the planet have skyrocketed, reaching their highest level in the last ten years.
The world price of wheat, with which bread is made, rose 5% due to a lower harvest. The increase is not yet reflected in the country, where on average a bread is purchased at $ 0.10, but it all depends on the bakery from which it is purchased.
According to the FAO price index, vegetable oils rose 9.6% in October, a record high. This global trend does leave its impact in Ecuador, where the Oil and fat price index had an increase of 28.05% last November compared to the same month in 2020. This segment is the one that contributed the most to inflation in that month, followed by mineral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, bread and cereals, non-alcoholic beverages, fish and dairy products (milk and cheese). with increases ranging from 1.87% to 0.19%, according to the INEC.
They are percentages that are calculated from the final consumption of high-, middle- and low-income households in the urban area of the country.
Mónica Valencia (44), Andrés Carpio (38) and Pola Villegas (58) shop at their homes in Guayaquil. They agree that, after the increase that occurred in the first months of confinement, prices did drop, but the cost of some items did not return to that of before the pandemic.
A liter of the cheapest oil was worth $ 1.50, now it costs up to $ 2.3, says Mónica, a teacher who lives in Mucho Lote I, in the north of Guayaquil. “In the pandemic they took advantage of the need. What is earned is stable, even now there is a reduction in salaries, “he says.
There is a difference in costs between supermarkets, markets and what is bought at traffic lights, pantries or trucks, according to a sampling carried out by this newspaper.
A banana cost $ 0.17 and $ 0.22 this week in the stores that supermarkets have in a neighborhood in the north and south of Guayaquil; while in a market in the north of the same city and in Quinindé, in Esmeraldas, they give seven units for $ 0.25.
In the markets they sell an avocado for $ 1, and before the pandemic it cost $ 0.50, says Mónica. However, in the traffic lights and in the supermarkets of the Guayaquil neighborhoods they give up to five for the same value. “You gamble, because there is a difference in quality,” says Pola, a retiree who lives in the Las Joyas neighborhood, in the south of Guayaquil.
Legumes, vegetables and fruits are cheaper in markets or from street vendors, they say. While industrialized products, such as tuna, the liter of oil or coffee (sachet), they cost less in supermarkets.
The tuna was bought this week for $ 1.16 in the neighborhood store of a supermarket in the north of Guayaquil, while it was bought for $ 1.25 in the market in the same area.
Andrés does weekly shopping for his household of six.
The rice is purchased directly from distributors who arrive in a truck to the La Chala neighborhood, in the south of Guayaquil, where he lives. “The quintal (100 pounds) was sold for $ 23 last week, and the sacks of one arroba (25 pounds) for $ 5.50, Conejo brand (that is, between $ 0.22 and $ 0.23 per pound) . In a store it is worth $ 0.40 a pound. It does not turn out to buy like that, a little, but this one continues the same as before the pandemic ”.
The pound of potatoes was bought for $ 0.20 in the markets before the pandemic, he adds, but now it is selling from $ 0.35. In a market in the north of Guayaquil they give four pounds for $ 1, only if that volume is bought.
Pola prefers to shop at the traffic light stops on Domingo Comín avenue, near La Pradera. “They give me up to five pounds of potato for a dollar; we do this to help our economy ”.
“The pound of beef was $ 3.25, and I currently buy it between $ 3.50 and $ 3.80 around here in the southern tercenas ”, says Andrés.
“There was an inexpensive cheese that before COVID-19 I bought at $ 1.50, now it is at $ 2. A pound of kangaroo cost $ 0.50, now it costs me $ 0.80. We are with reduced salaries, but I have to allocate $ 20 more a week to buy the same basket that I bought before the pandemic, “he says.
Between markets in different cities there are also variations. In Quinindé, known as a canton with palm groves from which the raw material for the oil is extracted, a liter of the product costs $ 2; in Guayaquil it is worth $ 2.25.
The opposite occurs with tuna: the cheapest can costs $ 1.25 in a market north of the main port of the country; and in Quinindé, $ 1.50. The pound of beef, on the other hand, is cheaper in the latter canton, which is also home to livestock: it costs between $ 1.50 and $ 2, depending on the quality.
Jorge Ávila, an engineer in Agricultural Economics and a professor at the San Francisco de Quito University, affirms that the COVID-19 pandemic with the omicron variant generates more uncertainty and affects food distribution chains.
“The point is that the costs of the products in the country itself are already higher than the world average, that is why we are not so competitive. Still putting the item for the increase in the price of fuels and fertilizers, which we import and do not use efficiently, makes it more difficult to go up. There are some support values and the buyer will look to pay that or less. There is no more room to increase the values ”, assures Ávila.
The cost of the country’s basic family basket last November was $ 715, according to INEC. And the family income would be $ 746 in a 4-member household, as long as 1.6 people in it work and earn the basic salary. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
