Basket composition & weights

The divisions and their current weights are those you can see in the chart. Key points:

• Food and beverages (26.9%) — highest weight and biggest impact on monthly inflation. Meat alone accounts for 4.51% of the index, the single highest item, followed by bread & cereals, dairy and eggs.
• Transport (11%) and Housing/utilities (9.4%) — categories where regulated prices (fuels, electricity, gas, water, public transport) concentrate. They vary the most due to government tariff decisions.
• Goods vs. services — goods represent 53% of the basket, services 47%.

Pending CPI update

With the new basket based on ENGHo 2017/18, food weight would drop from 26.9% to 22.7%, while housing/utilities would rise from 9.4% to 14.5% and transport from 11% to 14.3%.

Imported products and exchange rate sensitivity

What percentage are imported products? INDEC classifies products into four groups:

• Mostly imported — highly sensitive to the exchange rate (washing machines, telephone equipment, computers, audio equipment).
• High imported input content — medicines, cleaning products, televisions, toiletries.
• Exportable products — meats, fish, oils, cereals, sugar.
• Products made from exportable inputs — baked goods, pasta, fuels.

Directly imported goods represent only 8-12% of household spending, but exchange rate sensitivity affects a much larger portion through inputs. When the peso depreciates, food rises because its production inputs (agrochemicals, packaging, machinery), fuels for logistics, and export reference prices are all dollarized or influenced by the exchange rate.