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They already sell imported foods in Argentina: the products that follow and the effect on prices - El Cronista
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Ya venden alimentos importados en Argentina: los productos que siguen y el efecto en precios
Mientras empiezan a llegar los primeros alimentos importados, el Gobierno especula con un impacto en precios en el próximo mes y desde el sector señalan que la tendencia se verá en los próximos 90 días.
www.cronista.com
April 30, 2024
While the first imported foods begin to arrive, the Government speculates with an impact on prices in the next month and from the sector they indicate that the trend will be seen in the next 90 days.
By Maria Victoria Lippo
The presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni , highlighted the progress in imports of basic basket products and the expectation about their effect on prices and, given the appearance of the first products on the shelves, the sector warns that the effects will be seen in the next 90 days . Sector sources doubt the influence on prices and warn of the impact on companies .
Although in recent days more imported products began to appear and the Government highlighted that inflation, particularly food inflation, was already in single digits, the specific effect on prices is expected to be seen in a month, while From the sector they highlight that it will take about three months to impact retail inflation and the circulation of products .
Are the products there?
Adorni stressed that the arrival of the first basic basket products to the shelves "is part of the opening scheme" that the Government is carrying out to liberalize imports . "This path has to be taken little by little for several reasons ," added the spokesperson.
Among these reasons, perhaps the most important is the intervention of control organizations that must mediate in the case of food purchases. Given the sensitivity of the product, the National Food Institute must intervene to certify its safety for consumption, which adds time to the import process. This can be expedited in the coming months, once the necessary certifications and registrations have been completed. However, they highlighted that in the short term a greater variety will begin to be seen.
A supermarket chain highlighted that the greatest variety will be seen in the next 90 days and that it is still in a first stage of restocking stocks focused on merchandise that was traditionally sold, such as tuna, coffee and hearts of palm, among others.
For a second instance , they highlighted that they plan to expand the assortment of products and include some that lost regularity but with the same suppliers, and that will be seen in the next three months. These include a greater variety of beers or pastas. For a final stage, they expect a greater variety of products that were not previously imported, which would begin to arrive between August and December .
Other sources in the retail segment indicated, in the same sense, that it is still early to see the effect on the market , and that the products in which they have already detected income were wines from Chile, dairy bread from Brazil , and some products that registered obstacles such as tuna or coffee.
However, they warn that the impact will be registered when the products begin to arrive from China . From the distribution side, they highlighted that purchases will be concentrated in large chains.
Effect on prices
" Competition is always healthy and improves consumer prices. Beyond the fact that we take the Indec number (which will be published on May 14 with the April variation), we also take references from private consultancies and the food sector has been showing a behavior in line with our expectations. Food is having a much more stable behavior than what we have been accustomed to in previous months," added the presidential spokesperson .In this regard, data from the consulting firm LCG for the fourth week of April recorded a slowdown in food prices and recorded a weekly average of 0.7%, which for the last four weeks shows an average of 3.3%. and a monthly end-to-end variation of 2.8%. Despite this decrease, the consulting firm founded by Senator Martín Lousteau highlighted that food still registers a high inertia, which means that the entire basket registers at least one increase per month.
For the month of April, the projection places inflation at 9%. A similar level had been estimated by EcoGo, which projected 9.1% for April in the third week of the month .
The Government pointed out, however, that the effect on prices will surely be seen in the next month , in line with what they expect to be the greater arrival of products from abroad.
On the part of the retail sector, they do not question the possibility of the impact on prices , but they claim the possibility of having a competitive food industry that can export processed foods and that is a source of business.
They did question that imports operate as a "threat" to lower prices and that they end up leading to the closure of companies and the loss of jobs due to competition with local companies.
