Food Prices Keep Rising

Peru food prices double in some cases triple - Consumers concerned

In an article that appeared on the "Living in Peru" Website - La Republica news journal in Lima confirms the growing economic hardships facing many of Peru's citizens. The cost of basic goods and services are rising at alarming rates - far outpacing inflation and "trickle down" economic impacts. Although Peru is "exploding" with international and regional investment - a majority of this new found wealth has had any impact on the lower socioeconomic strata. Instead - the divide between the "have" and "have not" elements of the society is getting wider and wider.

Israel Ruiz writes in the "Living in Peru" Economic section - After visiting the main markets throughout different districts in Lima - that while the prices of some food products had decreased, there were others that were rising.

This was the case of chicken and limes in the country's capital. While the price of chicken has dropped as low as 5.50 soles per kilo in Lima markets, the price of limes has jumped from 3.50 soles per kilo to 6 soles per kilo.

Other prices that shocked consumers in Lima were the price of peas, which cost approximately 2.40 soles per kilo last week but now cost 4 soles per kilo. Peru's potato, one of the most inexpensive products on the market has also begun to increase in cost. The price of potatoes has increased 20 percent in the past several days, reported La Republica.

"At least (the price of) chicken is going down, but instead other products needed for cooking such as potatoes are increasing," said Elizabeth Gómez, a regular customer at Limoncillo market in Rimac.

The price of fish, which was an alternative to chicken just last week, has increased in price as well. Mackerel, which used to cost three soles per kilo is now costing six soles per kilo. This is also the case of bonito fish, which has shot from three soles per kilo to nine soles per kilogram.

"Before we used to sell twenty kilos of fish per day, now we sell that in two days," said a merchant at Lima's Mercado Central.

Economic times are changing - but unfortunately these shifts in financial "fortune" seem to be having a rather devastating impact on the lives and where-withal of everyday citizens of Peru.

Credit: Living in Peru by Israel J. Ruiz (first appeared on 25 September, 2008)