After the impact of the currency run on inflation, the Government seeks to extend the basket of regulated products to local businesses, including Chinese ones.
The idea is to incorporate them into the negotiations to update Fair Prices, a program that from
May will come with increases of up to 5% per month and will be valid for 90 days.
The Secretary of Commerce, headed by Matías Tombolini, met last week with the chamber that brings together distributors and wholesale self-services (CADAM) to agree on a suggested price "for sales to local businesses. There is talk of two
monthly
adjustments , 3.8% at the beginning of the month and 1.2% at the end of the month.
Until now,
the official program reached the big chains
, with adjustments every 45 days of 3.2% in more than 10,000 products.
and the freezing of another 2,000 products.
But due to the pressure from the companies and the acceleration of inflation, the authorities began to negotiate a renewal of the agreement, which was scheduled to run until the end of June.
In March
, the cost of living rose to 7.7%
-the highest variation since 2002- and food was one of the items with the highest average incidence.
It accumulated a rise of 9.3%, almost triple the regulated basket.
The official reading is that the increases were higher in nearby supermarkets, where Fair Prices do not apply and suppliers have more room to emphasize.
The next step will be to engage this sector, with more than 60% of the mass sales channel.
"We want the retailer
to know at what price they are going to buy,
once defined, they work on a basket that contemplates a trade profit margin of between 20 and 25% and from there a price is established for between 40 and 50 products of first necessity", pointed out from the economic team.
Comercio negotiates with the large supermarket chains (ASU), manufacturers of mass consumption products and wholesalers.
With the Chinese and neighborhood stores,
they recognize that it is "green" due to the "fragmentation"
in different chambers and the difficulty to control them.
In fact, a close basket has already been tried on other occasions, without results.
The consultants surveyed by the Central Bank expect
inflation of 126.4% for 2023 and 7.5% for April.
The data will be known this Friday after the INDEC reversed course last week.
The body had announced that it would delay the publication until Monday the 15th after the provincial elections, but finally it kept the original calendar.
In parallel, Sergio Massa's team also seeks
to roll back the prices that skyrocketed due to the currency run.
In a meeting with the CGT and social leaders, the minister called more than a week ago for an agreement on prices and wages, with the aim of avoiding "stirring up".
But given the difficulty in specifying it, they are now evaluating authorizing smaller increases.
"The thing about rolling back the remarks was raised at the beginning, but the companies told us that it was complicated, so if in April the products increased 12%, instead of giving you 3.2%, we give you 1.2% , a minor increase, that's why we asked for last month's price lists," explained sources familiar with the negotiations.
With a greater impact on the lower-income sectors of the population, food and beverages remain at a high level.
"Average monthly inflation continues at high levels, standing at 8.7% per month," according to LCG's survey for the first week of May, which showed a slight slowdown.
For Focus Market,
food rose 8.9% in April.
In gondola, there were increases of between 7 and 15% according to the category in the last 15 days.
"All categories of mass consumption travel to triple digits of interannual inflation compared to April 2022, beverages increased 108%, cleaning 116% and personal care 125.6% on average," said Damián Di Pace.
