02/10/2021 17:33
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 02/10/2021 5:51 PM
Militants of
the Evita Movement, Somos Barrios de Pie and the Classist and Combative Current
(CCC) will control the prices of the products included in the Care Prices program that are offered in some 1,000 hypermarkets and supermarkets in the country, in operations that will begin next Saturday, as reported by those organizations through a statement.
"Price makers and large economic groups that concentrate the production and distribution of food have decided to go for the pocket of the workers of our country. Abusive prices have multiplied and especially in essential products of the basket basic food, without there being any real justification for this blow to the purchasing power of the people, "said these social movements.
And in that sense, they remarked: "The levels of insensitivity that these groups have towards popular needs in the midst of an unprecedented health emergency are once again demonstrated."
"The large supermarket chains digitize the inflation and poverty of all Argentines," said Daniel Menéndez, from Barrios de Pie, and undersecretary for Integration and Training Policies at the Ministry of Social Development.
Menéndez also said in a statement that "the President stated that he plans to ensure that food reaches the tables of Argentines and Argentines" and affirmed that "hypermarkets have a fundamental role in the formation of their prices that impact inflation and poverty of the population ".
"It is necessary a strong State that can intervene on this scheme with sectors that, given the necessity and situation that the country is going through, prefer to maintain and promote speculation on prices," said Menéndez.
He also maintained that "in addition to controlling, we have to continue strengthening popular and neighborhood markets" and "multiplying the number of outlets where producers can reach the consumer directly."
Menéndez affirmed that the "battle against inflation in our country has not been resolved for decades" and stated that "we are not going to find a solution to this problem without transforming the structures that are embedded in the distribution chain."
Sources from Somos Barrios de Pie informed Télam that control operations will
begin next Saturday
in 1,000 supermarkets and hypermarkets in the country, with the participation of 20,000 volunteers.
A first step in this price control mechanism was led last Saturday by the Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas, and the Secretary of Internal Trade, Paula Español.
They toured supermarkets to verify the correct implementation of the agreement for meat, while inspectors of that portfolio and provincial and municipal officials participated in operations in different parts of the country.
On a visit to San Juan, Kulfas visited supermarkets in that province to "supervise the implementation of the price agreement for meat and to guarantee the supply of quality cuts."
"We take advantage of the hearing to verify that the meat agreement in the province is being fulfilled; indeed the promotional cuts are available and they are all of good quality," he said.
"We have a present State committed to taking care of the pocket of the Argentines; that is why we are going to control not only so that the price and supply are met, but also the quality of the products," Kulfas added during the tour in the capital of San Juan .
Meanwhile, Spanish toured supermarkets in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Crespo.
"We are doing, together with the provinces and municipalities, a constant inspection from the first day of the Meat Agreement, as we do with Care Prices and all the policies and structural programs that we promote from the Ministry of Internal Trade", said the Secretary of Commerce Inside.
The agreement includes the most representative cuts, barbecue cuts, cuts for daily consumption and cuts for cooking in the oven or in the pot, in all cases with values below what was currently being marketed.
It will be in force until March 31, with the commitment to extend it throughout the year, and the sale prices are up to 30% lower than those of December of last year.
In supermarkets they will be found on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays of the first 3 weeks of the month, and in the butcher shops of the Central Market of Buenos Aires every day.
The official steps are part of the strategy to try to contain the advance of inflation, which in the last months of last year reheated its march due to pressure from the food segment.
Although on Thursday the data of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Indec, corresponding to January will be known, private analysts indicated that this indicator registered an evolution of around 3.8% in the first of the year.
At the Casa Rosada, they attributed these jumps to the evolution in seasonal food prices and the impact of the increase in raw materials in the international market. In any case, the numbers are key, especially in the framework of the efforts initiated by the national government to coordinate the path of prices and wages, and thus strengthen the fight against inflation.
