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The Government rushes with the companies a basket of 100 products with fixed prices and frozen until the elections

2021-04-30T04:34:03.602Z


It is launched on May 15 and there are talks with 25 leading companies. The products will be in supermarkets, warehouses, wholesalers and supermarkets throughout the country.


Silvia Naishtat

04/27/2021 19:04

  • Clarín.com

  • Economy

Updated 04/27/2021 19:05

Urged by an inflation that does not ease, on May 15 the Government

will launch the basket of essential prices

with a hundred products that include flour, rice, polenta, oil, herb, dairy products, coffee, some cleaning and hygiene products and dresser to name a few, whose prices will

remain frozen until the elections.

That is, November. And they will be offered in supermarkets, warehouses, supermarkets and wholesalers

across the country with the same value.

These products

will not have a label

that marks their value since the companies observed that the implementation is very difficult and that it would take time, at least 60 days.

On May 15, the current maximum price regime expires and the idea is to give it continuity with a smaller but more comprehensive basket.

"Make the effort,"

Secretary Paula Español tells them

,

eager that these prices remain unchanged until the elections.

The companies that participate in the basket of essentials are Unilever, Arcor, Molinos, Mastellone, Las Marias, Bimbo, Mondelez, Danone, Alicorp, AGD, Bunge, P&G, Molino Cañuelas and La Virginia, among others.

Eliminate maximum prices

As a currency of exchange,

the maximum prices

are

eliminated and the price

system remains with more than 600 products that are updated quarterly.

This new scheme germinates in meetings in which the representatives of the main mass consumption companies wander between the "reasonable" positions that they hear in the office of Minister Matías Kulfas to that of the "electrical" positions of the Secretary of Commerce.

Interns in the ministry

But apart from the

increasingly palpable differences

between the minister who is the boss and his subordinate,

the latest measures launched by the Government

stand out as an

escalation

.

One is the information system in which they put

sensitive data on suppliers and costs.

And the new obligation of

ask the Secretary of Commerce for authorization before launching a new product on the market

.

From Copal, the Chamber that groups food companies, they prepared administrative presentations.

It is in this climate that essential prices are made, as described by some of the companies to

Clarín

.

That they do recognize that the meetings with the officials take place in an atmosphere of respect and they emphasize it to mark differences with Guillermo Moreno.

"Spanish is vehement, many times it shocks but

never uses verbal violence," they

describe.

They detail with precision that each company of those summoned

will place about 3 to 4 products in that basket of essentials.

"We are willing to accompany,"

slipped the CEO of one of these firms requesting off the record.

According to his reasoning, breaking out of maximum prices is a

relief after keeping dozens of products in his portfolio frozen

for more than a year.

For example, common flour, under maximum prices, rose

3.9% in the year compared to inflation of 36.2%.

Or foods like asado, the most popular cut of meat that

doubled in price.

Another manager of a food company exemplified to this newspaper what happened with sunflower oil that is offered to the public at a price that is

not enough to buy the raw material

.

"Spanish understands it," they highlighted.

A notable difference with the current pricing regime is that in addition to

supermarkets

and wholesalers,

distributors who reach out to retailers, the warehouse and the self-service

are incorporated

. The Government seeks that the basket of essentials is offered throughout the country at the same price. On the business side, they are already making calculations about

how much they will have to sacrifice.

The distributor is another link that adds margins, unlike what happens to them with super or wholesalers with whom they agree directly.

Source: clarin

All business articles on 2021-04-30

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