It is no secret that the devaluation of the peso against the dollar will be expensive for everyone in Colombia, in just three weeks the peso has lost 12% of its value. Food will be one of the main affected by price increases in the short and medium term, because many of the inputs needed to produce it are imported. Only with that result is the effect generalized.
However, in this rally that adjusts six consecutive days in which the dollar exceeds its historical record, dangerously approaching $4,500, there are some who are doing better than others.
VENEZUELANS SUFFER FOR SENDING MONEY
Steven Rendón is a Venezuelan who has lived in Medellin for five years, since then he sacredly sends his father in Venezuela $100,000 fortnightly that he must convert into dollars.
Currently, he cannot increase that quota, given that the situation in Colombia is also difficult and the maintenance of his family here is becoming more and more expensive.
A month ago, the $100,000 he sent turned into $26, which in turn became 136 bolivars. If you do that same exercise today, the $100,000 would be 22 dollars, and in bolivars it would barely reach 123 bolivars, because the bolivar continues on a path of devaluation, like almost all currencies in the world.
“I cannot depend on exchange rates, because three currencies play a part in the equation, but on my availability of resources, as soon as I have the money, I send it,” he details.
COLOMBIANS ABROAD, WITH A BREAK
Leaving the country to pursue the American dream is not easy. Jhon Deivis Mejía says that in order to set up a company in Atlanta, Georgia (United States), he borrowed from Colombian banks in pesos, so “the high price of the dollar has been a blessing for us,” he says.
He acknowledges that these are two mixed feelings, because on the one hand he can increase his savings capacity with a view to fulfilling his dream of returning to Colombia with his family in a better position, but he also regrets that the situation is difficult for those who are in Colombia. , especially in what has to do with famine.
WHO EARNS IN DOLLARS, EARNS MORE
Brian Levesque is an American who lives in Medellin and is currently the manager of a foreign technology company that pays him in dollars. He today receives much more money for his work, if you take into account that he lives in Colombian pesos.
He knows perfectly well that in these times the exchange rate has high volatility, he remembers, for example, how during the pandemic he lost 30% of the savings with which he arrived in the country due to the revaluation, and now the strength of the dollar is back.
“As I now spend fewer dollars to live, I still increased my savings in dollars, since I am planning to buy a house in Colombia in one or two years,” he explains.
Asked if he has considered changing his savings in dollars to Colombian pesos, to take advantage of the historical price, he says yes, but only part of it, because his permanence in the country is not very clear and because he no longer trusts the peso so much.
THE NIGHTMARE OF TRAVELING WITH AN EXPENSIVE DOLLAR
Jorge Ochoa traveled with his family to the United States (California and Las Vegas) the day after Gustavo Petro’s triumph, the idea was to celebrate his daughter’s 15th birthday. He left Colombia with a dollar at $3,905 and returned 17 days later with the currency at $4,348. “We never calculated that this could happen,” he says.
The first week of the trip he covered expenses with dollars he had bought for $3,700 several months earlier. And then he started swiping his credit cards. With the Visa card he made purchases of food and various expenses, and the bank immediately makes the change to pesos applying the current TRM for each day. The car was rented with American Express, which defers the purchase in dollars to 12 months.
“At this point I have to do everything possible to pay it quickly, because there is no guarantee that the dollar will go down and I don’t know what the exchange rate will be for September, October and beyond,” he says.
It will take several months for Jorge to finally know how much the trip cost him.
EXPORTERS RECEIVE MORE PER PRODUCT
The 6,723 companies that have been exporting throughout the year are receiving more money, even if they produce the same, and that is undoubtedly good news for their financial statements.
Juan Pablo Duque, founder and CEO of Equilibria Agro, a producer and exporter of Tahiti lemons from Antioquia, explains that the current price of the dollar was outside his forecasts and, surely, those of all exporters.
“This is a favorable result under any forecast that would have been budgeted. It is particularly favoring us because we receive more pesos for each kilo of lemon that we take abroad,” she says.
However, not everything is positive, given that it is usual for international trade companies to borrow in dollars, and then their debt service is also becoming more expensive.
At the moment, what it does is mitigate the production risk, which can arise, for example, due to climate variability, and in this way it guarantees having enough product to take to the market, which currently has a high demand for Tahiti lemons.
Coffee growers, for example, brought 6% more product to the international inventory account market in June, given that production has decreased (-10%). So that their income would not be affected and they could take advantage of the high price of the dollar.
IMPORTERS, FORCED TO RAISE PRICE
“There is a need to increase prices because costs are not friendly,” says Andrés Trespalacios, general manager of the marketer Fiel a tu Belleza, which imports and sells makeup.
In his story, he details how the dollar account of the imported merchandise has become 18% more expensive and that the supplier has increased the price of the product twice this year because its raw materials are more expensive, the first increase was 9%. and the second of 10%.
“It means that I am paying 40% more for makeup, so there is no way to contain those costs and they end up taking the consumer away,” he says.
Trespalacios knows that in its portfolio there are triple AAA products that will always be in demand regardless of price, but that there are others such as double A and A that are more price sensitive.
“What we have done is that we have not brought type A products in the last 60 days, we lowered the double AA to 50%, so that with the rest of the resources we bring 100% of the triple AAA products.”
With this formula, the company has managed to maintain sales, despite the fact that units sold have decreased significantly.
For now, he is not counting on reducing his staff, but if in the next three months, as he projects, the dollar does not return to levels close to $3,800, he will have to start taking measures in that direction.
