Argentine TVs Most Expensive in Latin America
It costs more to buy a TV in Argentina than anywhere else in Latin America.
According to a recent survey by IFR Monitoring, it costs 101% more in U.S. dollars to buy a 32″ HDTV here than in Chile and 113% more than in Colombia.
Now that’s something to be proud of….not.
IFR did a comparative analysis of prices for a standard 32″ HDTV in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Uruguay.
The results show Argentina to be the most expensive place to buy a TV while Colombia is the least expensive. On a recent trip to Colombia I was struck by how much less expensive tech items are there. In many cases, prices were similar to those in the U.S., the mecca of consumer electronics.
But if the U.S. is the global heaven of consumer electronics, in terms of selection and pricing, Argentina appears to be Latin America’s consumer electronics inferno.
It’s ironic, to say the least, that in the U.S., the world’s richest country (according to some metrics), brand name tech products cost less than in almost any country in the world while in Argentina, where the minimum wage is about $380 a month (for a 48-hour work week), such products are among the most expensive.
The average price of a 32″ TV in the countries surveyed is $711. It’s $1,012 in Argentina and under half that – $476 – in Colombia.
In an unrelated survey published this week, IFR said it was “plausible” to assert, as Amazon.com has, that the sale of eBooks will surpass standard book sales by the end of 2011.
Of course, both Amazon and IFR were referring to U.S. eBook sales. Given price problems in particular, and broader macroeconomic challenges (including poverty) in general, this is unlikely to happen in Argentina for many years.
On a recent trip to Jumbo, I decided to price out 32″ TVs too. I was amazed that every single brand was the same price – $3999. There was absolutely no difference in the price of about 5 different 32″ TVs. Talk about not having a lot of choice!
We live behind the Berlin Wall of electronics.
The problem is that this monstrous tax was put in place to defend a national industry that does not even exist. If it did then there would be Argentine made TV’s for sale at roughly half the price of their imported cousins. So a protectionist measure turns out to be a tax against modernity.
Just tragic. Is anyone with half a brain in charge of anything?
Yes Sam. Someone with 1/2 brain IS in charge, along with her husband, sister-and-law and entire cabinet. They will not leave without a fight. Everyday this place becomes more dysfunctional and ridiculously expensive.
“Someone with 1/2 brain IS in charge”
LOL…except I would say that she has a whole brain but HALF a SOUL
I would find it very interesting if some one did the same analysis of TV prices in terms of wages. At the $380 figure, a TV represents 2.7 monthly salaries. I wonder how many salaries is that in the Colombia and everywhere else. I suspect Argentina might be first (or last?) on that list as well…
That would be very interesting, indeed. I believe Argentina has historically had one of the highest minimum wages in the region, followed, I think, but am not sure, by Venezuela. I’m not sure what the median wage is, however, and I’m not sure how this would help us compare purchasing power parity, but it would be an interesting start. President Cristina Fernandez often brags that Argentina has the highest wages in Latin America. This may well be true, though I haven’t compared the data. What is much more relevant is PPP.
That should not be so hard to figure out using the Big Mac index: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_big_mac_ind-economy-big-mac-index (It’s from 2006, but maybe there is a newer version somewhere, anyway it’s still a good tool to see the inflation in Argentina if you know the current price of a Big Mac I guess..)
Sad to say that repairing these over-priced televisions is more expensive also. We could have bought another television for the cost of repairs to a 6 month old ‘Bought in BA’ telly.
Further to previous comment on the electronics sector of Argentina. This country has the technical talent to do most anything, however the tax thing is financial fodder to spend at will by the political establishment as they seem fit. Buying the votes of the poor and personal gain seem to be the most logical result of this sort of taxation. Has this government considered importing sub assembly components from their many Asian trading partners and set-up electronics factories to complete finished electronics goods. It works very well in Brazil and Mexico for domestic consumption and export.
quote: This country has the technical talent to do most anything… end quote.
I don’t know about that. There was a time when that was probably true but I’m not sure anymore. I mean, I don’t have the hard data to prove it, just a feeling that whereas countries with cheap labor such as China can do most anything technical, this is so because they manufacture said technology, people are educated and trained in the use of it and they sell to the whole world. Totally opposite to the situation of Argentina, where almost nothing of quality is manufactured or exported anywhere for a variety of reasons (there are some exceptions, of course) and where education has taken a nose dive over the years and technical skills are almost nil (because they’re not produced or because those who manage to acquire them leave the country). Add to that the impossibility of acquiring technology made elsewhere, which impacts the chain of production from beginning to end. It’s a downwards spiral towards oblivion, the place where, apparently, Argentina does its darnedest to belong.
Again! This hurts the Argentine economy more as Argentine’s will be strongly encouraged to purchase these items when they travel abroad rather than support their local merchant currently burdened with the excessive tax.
I agree wholeheartedly; I would much rather support the local merchants but with a 100% tax going to a gov’t slush fund — I won’t very often.
..it would be nice to see a an investigation of this “monstrous tax .” Though a huge tax on electronic imports has always been implied, I have never seen hard evidence of this, i.e., a governments bill. I don’t know if there is huge tax on, greed or combination of the two for these products.
There is no doubt though, that the price of any electronic device in Argentina promotes the continued ignorance of, and the lack of tools for it’s people.. How can any government stand by and condone this situation unless it were planned.
I lived in Tartagal in Salta during the late 90′s when the peso was 1-1 with the US dollar. Argentina was very expensive in those days but even someone earning 380 pesos monthly could buy much more cheaply in Bolivia and smuggle back into Argentina at a tremendous profit. It was clothes, cooking oil and electronics in those days, now they smuggle cocaine. The means and ways were develloped then due to a bad government policy and the result today is rising drug use and addiction. It leaves one to conclude that the governments ignorance of the long term effects of their policies proves without a doubt their self serving interests and their total disrespect for the Argentine people.