Operation 'surprise' in the Central Market by the rise of fruits and vegetables

A day after announcing that it will eliminate tariffs on food imports, the government carried out a surprise operation on the Central Market to control alleged "price distortions". Around 8 a.m. yesterday, officials from the three AFIP agencies (Customs, DGI and Social Security) verified documents and invoices from 10 operating companies in search of alleged irregularities.

According to eyewitnesses, the operation began around 8 in the morning, lasted just 1 hour and the inspectors withdrew without leaving a record of the action. Despite this and without specifying whether infractions were committed, the Government explained that "a survey of fruits and vegetables of foreign origin was carried out, in all the pavilions and warehouses of the Central Market." In parallel, there was special emphasis on the dissemination of photos and videos of the procedure.

The official justification is that there are importers who "access the official dollar and put prices to the blue", which feeds the inflationary escalation of recent weeks. In April, the cost of living climbed to 8.4%, due to the rise in seasonal products (12.8%) and food and beverages, which stood at 10.8%.

Faced with this, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, announced this weekend a package of measures to stop the remarks, including the possibility of importing food at rate 0 to counteract the increases in fruits, vegetables and vegetables, the heart of the so-called fresh products.

In the Central Market they warn that the "bombastic" operation of the AFIP was more modest. "They headed directly to Hall 9 (out of a total of 12) and made requirements in 10 well-known importing companies," an operator confided to Clarín. He also said that the inspectors arrived in 6 trucks, spent about 20 minutes at each post, and then left without taking minutes or saying anything.

A customs inspector said that "an inspection of the merchandise of foreign origin was carried out in the square, in order to verify the legal possession of the introduction to the place of the same." And he added that the procedure was carried out "within the framework of Article 123 of the Customs Code", an infraction that refers to the practice of smuggling. However, at press time, the government did not report the results of the operation.

The main imported fresh product is bananas, which account for 30% of total fruit consumption in the country. They estimate that it consumes between 300 and US $ 400 million per year and mostly comes from Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. To a lesser extent, avocados, pineapples and kiwis also enter from abroad, which are offered wholesale to a large extent.

The inspection operation "caused surprise and much discomfort," said an operator of the main fruit and vegetable collection center in the country. The source believes that the Government blames them for the inflationary acceleration of recent months, "when most products, except tomatoes (64% in April) and oranges (almost 20%) had no increases or fell compared to previous weeks."

The Central Market was inaugurated in 1984 by Raúl Alfonsín. Today it moves 1.8 million tons of fruit and vegetables per year in a country that consumes about 5 million people. It is an area of 500 hectares, in which the mega-fair of fresh products coexist (12 pavilions with 54 stalls each; and 6 intermediate free beaches, of 30 premises), with the deposits and distribution centers that belong to Mercado Libre, Coca Cola and Quilmes, among other firms.