MEXICO CITY (appro).—Beverages such as bottled water, soft drinks and beer have increased their prices by an average of 10.5% so far this year, warned the National Alliance of Small Merchants (ANPEC).
According to the monitoring carried out by the agency, bottled water and soft drinks have risen from two to three pesos, while beer from three to five pesos.
“Citizens, faced with this climatic adversity, will be forced to continue with their course, a suffocating and exhausting daily life. People do not bring enough ‘varo’ in their pockets, but they have to quench their thirst, they have to drink something these days of more drinking than eating despite the fact that, so far this year, drinks have suffered an increase of 10.5 % their prices”, said the president of ANPEC, Cuauhtémoc Rivera.
According to ANPEC, inventory levels are not keeping up with demand since sales have increased by 56.6% in the last month in terms of bottled, mineral and flavored water; 32.9% cola soft drinks; flavored soft drinks in 9.8% and beer in 80%.
“In at least a third of the country, temperatures will be around 50° and the possible shortage of beverages that could exist is worrisome. In this season, gastrointestinal diseases, heat strokes and skin burns multiply. It is dramatic that 12 million people do not have domestic drinking water and 10 million more do not have electricity at home”, he denounced.
As if that were not enough, he pointed out that the drought has led to water stress in the national territory, jeopardizing the supply for human consumption and agricultural production.
The set of all these elements explains, to a large extent, the increase in the consumption of bottled water, juices, nectars, soft drinks, beers, teas and (cold) coffees that the population, forced by the heat, is consuming on a large scale”. explained Cuauhtémoc Rivera, president of ANPEC.
The vast majority of the working population, he pointed out, in the best of cases, lives in their own tiny social interest home, with low ceilings, where it is cooler outside than inside these homes.
