Food Prices Outrun Argentina's General Inflation

Food prices in Argentina rose 0.59% in the third week of October. That added 0.16 percentage points to an overall weekly increase of 0.12%, according to consultancy Eco Go’s survey dated 19 October. Food’s contribution exceeded the total because clothing and footwear prices fell, pulling down the general figure.

Food’s Weight in the Index

Eco Go measured a 1.75% decline in clothing and footwear. The consultancy said the weekly increase in the general price level would have been about 0.29% without that drop. Its survey tracked the basic food basket alongside other goods and services.

Food prices fell 0.05% in the first week of October, then rose 1.05% in the second and 0.59% in the third. The accumulated increase for food so far that month was about 1.6%. Eco Go projects food prices will rise 2.4% in October, compared with 1.8% for all prices. That projection assumes weekly increases of 0.5% in the remaining weeks.

Seven of the 10 food groups rose during the surveyed week, and five increased more than the food average. Bread and cereals rose 2.14%. Dairy and eggs had the largest decline, though the report gives no percentage for that drop.

Meat is the heaviest group in the food basket. Retail meat prices rose 0.1% in the third week, after a 1.3% increase the previous week. Poultry rose 1.0%, while beef fell 0.2%. The retail figures show different movements within the meat category even as wholesale meat prices kept climbing.

Wholesale Increases and Retail Prices

Wholesale meat rose 0.9% during the week, marking its third consecutive increase, and climbed 3.6% across that run. Since October 2025, wholesale meat prices have risen 55.6%, compared with a 45.4% increase on retail shelves.

Wholesale fruit rose 1.3%, reaching a 10.2% increase over three weeks. Eco Go said that increase was beginning to pass through to retail prices. Fruit prices on shelves rose 1.7% in the surveyed week after two weeks of declines. Wholesale vegetables rose 0.5% after two weeks of declines; retail vegetable prices rose 0.8% for a second straight week, up 2.7% over two weeks.

Outside food, airfares rose 6.4% and lodging rose 5.3%. Tolls also increased. Trousers fell 7.1%, while footwear fell 4.2%.

Estimates and Official Measures

Private surveys showed different weekly food readings. LCG, which scrapes 8,000 prices at five supermarkets, measured a 0.4% increase in food and beverages in the second week of October. Eco Go measured about 1% for that week. Its third-week account lists the second-week rise as 1.05%, while Perfil reported 1.03% on 16 October.

INDEC, Argentina’s official statistics office, reported September inflation of 1.9%, a 23.6% increase in the first nine months of 2026 and a 33.4% increase over 12 months. Eco Go estimated that food and beverages rose 26.9% year to date and 34.0% over 12 months; those food figures are private estimates, not INDEC data.

Eco Go’s projection of 1.8% inflation for October would put annual inflation near 32.4%. La Capital, Canal 26 and Perfil reported the official INDEC September figures because the table couldn’t be read directly. INDEC hadn’t confirmed the date for its October release. Eco Go’s projection remains a private estimate and may differ from the official measurement.

Polymarket’s Argentina October inflation market assigned 45% to an outcome between 1.6% and 1.8%, and 36% to one between 1.9% and 2.1%, using bid-and-ask midpoints at 2:44 a.m. ET on 22 October. About US$15,700 had traded. The market was scheduled to close on 12 November.