Brazil’s grocery shopping habits turned on their head amid soaring inflation

During a Monday meeting with investors, Brazil’s Central Bank Chairman Roberto Campos Neto called the country’s latest inflation numbers “surprising.” Consumer prices rose by 1.62 percent in March, hardly a bolt from the blue after over a year of consistently climbing costs. Year-to-date inflation now stands at 11.3 percent, the highest in 19 years, and this relentless rise in prices is the biggest challenge for the bank’s policymakers, investors, and, above all, Brazilian consumers.

The problem is multifaceted and interconnected. In March, inflation was largely driven by rising fuel prices, but in a country as heavily dependent on trucks for cargo transport, higher diesel prices also mean elevated food costs.

Pedro Kislanov, the researcher who oversees the preparation of Brazil’s benchmark inflation rate, says food prices rose by 2.42 percent in March — the sharpest one-month spike since November 2020. And this inflationary pressure has forced Brazilians to become more creative when it comes time to buy their groceries.

A perhaps obvious solution would be reducing the number of items one buys or switching to off-brand products. Ricardo Teixeira, professor at think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas, also mentions the possibility of shopping at cash-and-carry stores, where people can buy wholesale at cheaper prices.

According to a McKinsey study, the hunt for lower prices led to a 10-percent surge in revenue for cash-and-carry stores last year. Meanwhile, traditional food retail saw results slip by 2.4 percent during the same period. In fact, cash and carry...