2023-09-24 04:25:53
One month after the announcement of the new stage of the Fair Prices program with a monthly cap of 5% increase for goods, including mass consumption, the agreements have not been signed with all the companies involved. This was confirmed to PERFIL by sources from the Ministry of Commerce, who assured that they are working “to formalize the missing ones.” Despite being on the list of those who had renewed agreements since August 21, some wholesalers closed agreements at the end of this week, while supermarkets in the interior ended the initiative. Meanwhile, neighborhood businesses assured this medium that the agreed price format “is lost” and that the merchandise is no longer available.
As PERFIL announced, despite the launch of the program and the publication of the list of those who renewed, not all the agreements were sealed, and thirty days after they were announced they still are not. In the week after the PASO, the Minister of Economy and presidential candidate, Sergio Massa, not only promised to publish the list of companies that did decide to participate, but also the name of those that did not. Regarding the latter, he stated: “We are going to have the opportunity to establish what profitability mechanisms they propose for the price proposals they make.” In addition, he asked wholesalers to “build programs with neighborhood markets.”
In the week that marked one month of these announcements, agreements with some wholesalers were rushed, but other negotiations were at a standstill. One of the largest distributors in the country, which has branches in thirty cities, confirmed to PERFIL that it joined the agreement at the end of this week, although it appeared as a signatory on the list since August 21.
From the supermarkets in the interior of the country they were categorical: “Everything is stopped on our part.” Sector sources assured PERFIL that “there were meetings, but very few supermarkets signed up because the suppliers did not deliver to them.” Complying with the agreements does not depend on them, because “they only deliver the merchandise at the price agreed upon to the large chains.”
When consulted by PERFIL, the Ministry of Commerce admitted that, although “about 330 companies from different sectors have already signed,” they estimate that “in the coming days they could finish formalizing the remaining ones.” Regarding those that are already within the program, they stated: “The agreements are being fulfilled.”
The contrast between what is officially listed and what is actually found is mainly perceived by the retail businesses included in the neighborhood Fair Prices, which began to be implemented on June 2. “The Fair Prices format is lost, wholesalers no longer have the merchandise,” Fernando Savore, president of the Federation of Grocers of the province of Buenos Aires (FABA), told PROFILE. “What they told me from Commerce is that the negotiations are tough, the companies do not want to give in,” he added.
After the primaries on August 13 and the subsequent devaluation, food and cleaning supplies rose up to 30%. That same week, the Ministry of Commerce announced that an agreement had been reached to maintain a monthly pattern of 5% price increases for more than 55 thousand items that were going to revert their prices to values prior to the devaluation. But the latter did not happen either. “We had a 30% increase in August, and the increases continue on top of that increase. Obviously, the money is going to be less and less,” explained the head of FABA.
“I proposed to the Secretary of Commerce that, instead of putting together a program with a hundred products, they think about putting together a program with thirty or forty high-rotation products, to focus on what Argentine families consume daily,” said Savore.
Meanwhile, prices continue to rise and this is compounded by shortages. “There is no rice in the wholesalers. With sugar we remain the same, it reached our purchase price of 900 pesos, and cookies are going up a lot.” In the last three months, according to the trader, sugar grew almost three times its cost value.
“There is literally no rice, and we believe there will be a 40% increase.” Meanwhile, “a sachet of milk is worth almost 500 pesos,” she concluded.
Food rose 15.6% according to Indec indices for August, well above general inflation, which was 12.4%. Something similar is expected to happen in September, a month in which consulting firms also project a double-digit consumer price index.
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