Merchants from La Plata are looking for alternatives to face the skyrocketing dollar in recent days. On Monday, the “blue” exchange closed at $462 while yesterday it reached $495.
So, especially in the construction sector, businesses are remarking prices several times a day. “The changes are more frequent and you have to be seeing which one varies by the MEP dollar or by the official one,” said a faucet and toilet trader.
“It is not easy to have a business in such a convulsed Argentina. People understand and know the situation we are all in. It is urgent that a measure be taken, that this situation be regularized, ”he wished.
From the sector dedicated to the sale of construction materials, the seller explained: “The price is changing all the time. In the afternoon the cement already had a different price than in the morning. There is no ceiling, a value that can be maintained”.
“At the moment, there are no shortages, as it did happen many times in the pandemic. But there was a 50% increase. Several had to stop works. Instead of coming every week, he comes once a month, ”he closed.
It happens that the informal currency is usually taken as a reference variable for clients and merchants. A shock like yesterday’s in the price of blue or informal usually drags price remarks across the board and impacts the availability of some products, especially durable consumer goods and construction.
“This happens because the expectation of the replacement cost may be higher going forward and given the risk that the rest of the competitors will adjust their prices sooner or later also due to the perspective of the movement of the dollar”, explains the economist Juan Pablo Albornoz.
Thus, products highly dependent on imports such as electronics, construction materials, motorcycles, bicycles, tires, some textiles and even toys feel the impact. “Suppliers only comply with previously committed orders, but they refuse to take new ones because they say they have no price,” they illustrate from those sectors.
Martín Bizet, president of the City Bell Chamber of Commerce and Industry, assured that prices in the textile industry increased by almost ten percent. However, for the moment they have not felt a lack of merchandise: “It happens that any change in the economy takes a while to be reflected in commerce. These problems with the dollar will surely be verified in 15 or 20 days. That is when the lack of the product is going to be felt that perhaps was not delivered due to speculation or whatever”.
