MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

High food prices turn Chileans to alternative markets

With food prices rising, a greater number of Santiago households appear to be turning to alternative food markets.

This July, supermarket sales reported their slowest month of growth since 1991, up by a mere one percent. Meanwhile, traditional wholesale markets like Lo Valledor and the Vega Central have seen a sharp influx of retail customers. Lo Valledor, Chile's largest food market experienced a 20% jump in weekend sales over the last few months. The market's administrator Gonzalo Bravo attributes the new weekend traffic market to increased retail trade – including families who have begun buying bulk groceries collectively to take advantages of lower prices. Located on the peripheral south in the Santiago municipality of Pedro Aguirre Cerda and just off Route 5, the market traditionally caters to restaurants and small grocery stores, which buy fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses by the crate. On average, the market received 25,000 visitors during the week, and 28,000 on weekends. The smaller but more accessible Vega Central has also reported more retail business. Director Manuel Caro said that 3,000 of the market's 5,000 weekend customers are retail shoppers. To accommodate additional demand, the Vega Central will expand its parking lot in 2009. This will add between 600 and 800 new spaces for a total of nearly 2000. Wholesale supermarket Alvi has also seen an increase in small-scale purchases since late 2007. Still, the chain's executives view the increase as a short-term phenomenon and plan to continue focusing on its wholesale clients. Chile's Professional Supermarket Association also does not see the increased popularity of wholesale markets as a significant trend. "We have seen fewer people because times are more difficult. But it has been a moderate drop-off that could also be explained by the winter vacations" said President Frenando Alvear. Alvear does not see Lo Valledor or the Vega Central as threats because wholesale markets and supermarkets "respond to different needs, and have coexisted for years and years." Alvear expects supermarkets will make up lost ground in the second two quarters of 2008, thanks to shopping boosts from Christmas and September 18th, Chile's Independence Day celebrations. The Santiago Times