This paper analyzes the behavior of the Argentine chocolate bar industry during the period
2019-2022. It mainly focuses on the level of competition between the firms in the industry,
estimating conduct parameters that signal the existence of harder or softer competition. We
first calculate a conduct parameter without taking into account the phenomenon of product
differentiation, using two alternative specifications: linear and logarithmic. While the linear
specification produces an estimation that is consistent with the absence of market power (i.e.,
perfect competition), the logarithmic specification generates a result which signals some kind
of imperfect competition. This last result is reinforced when we explicitly model product
differentiation at the level of the supplying firms. This new specification allows discarding the
hypothesis of perfect competition and also the hypothesis of collusion, and it slightly favors
the existence of quantity (Cournot) competition over price (Bertrand) competition.

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