05/24/2021 9:28 AM
Clarín.com
Rural
Updated 05/24/2021 10:51 AM
In 2017, domestic meat inflation in Uruguay was 3% per year and then
began to rise to 35% per year in 2019
.
The figure is far from the 65% that increased the price of meat in Argentina in the last twelve months, but it serves to compare policies and results.
In this context, an alternative strategy would be the one implemented by José Mujica in Uruguay.
In 2005, when he was Minister of Livestock, he asked the meatpacking companies to allocate popular cuts (skirt, barbecue skirt, roast) to the domestic market and that the rest be destined for export.
This was called
"Pepe's asado
."
A similar scheme was tried to implement in 2011 when Mujica was already president.
This was explained by the Institute for Argentine Social Development (Idesa), an independent study center, in a recent work.
The measure adopted by Uruguay to curb the rise was not the closure of exports but the increase in meat imports.
In 2019 Uruguay multiplied its meat imports by 6 compared to 2017
, and in 2020 there was a -4% deflation in meat.
Figure 1
"These data show that Uruguay, even being a large exporter, when it had a strong inflation on meat did not close exports. Nor did it have a passive attitude, but instead appealed to open meat imports to
increase supply in the domestic market
and , in this way, lower the price. In 2020,
13% of domestic meat consumption was supplied with imports
. In other words, Uruguay, unlike Argentina, moderated the price of meat, boosting foreign trade ", they explained.
And then they added: "The Uruguayan case teaches that there are alternatives for people with lower incomes to have access to meat consumption without putting exports at stake. On the contrary, with instruments as rudimentary as prohibiting exports, enormous damages are generated to production. and the generation of foreign exchange. In addition, it has very regressive impacts since those who consume the most meat and, therefore, benefit the most from the reduction in its price are the middle and high income sectors ".
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