Buenos Aires, Feb 23 (NA) – The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) released the Business Confidence Index (ICE) for the food sector. It is low, but did not show negative numbers; although expectations are not good. According to what the Argentine News Agency could find out, the ICE for wholesale businesses and supermarkets was 1.3% based on the evaluation of January 2026 and expectations for February-April 2026. INDEC projects a 17.6% increase in manufacturing production for April. In this case, the ICE was composed of responses to three questions. It is considered that the business situation in January 2026 in their company is: Bad 20%. Good 8.8%. Normal 66.6%. Balance -16.3%. What do you expect from the business situation in the next quarter (February-April 2026) compared to the current situation? It will worsen 8.8%. It will improve 20%. It will remain the same 71.3%. Balance 11.3%. The level of stocks in January 2026 in terms of volume is considered: Below normal 21.3%. Above normal 12.5%. Normal 66.3%. Balance -8.8%. In this case, it is valid to say that 'the ICE for wholesale supermarkets and self-services is composed of the business opinion on the evaluation of the current business situation, future expectations of the business situation, and the evaluation of the current stocks; it can take values between -100% and 100%'
