The latest increases, although strong, did not intimidate consumers. The key to the market What will happen to prices in the coming weeks
By Claudio Zlotnik
17/03/2023 – 08,54hs
The sharp increase in meat price was key to explaining the inflation in February: INDEC detected increases of between 30% and 35% in the so-called popular cuts in a single month. It decisively influenced the skyrocketing of 10.2% of the “food” item in the metropolitan area, always according to the official body.
what happened to him? consumptionin the middle of that wave?
The latest report from CICCRA – the chamber that brings together “consumer” refrigerators, which are dedicated almost exclusively to Internal market– has just revealed that meat consumption improved 4.2% compared to February last year.
That is, the market validated the new prices, despite the strong rises and the fact that some cuts -such as roasts- are already close to $2,000 per kilo and other “premium” cuts, such as rump steak or chorizo steak, sell for around $3,500 per kilo. There are butcher shops that sell them at a higher price.
The keys to consumption
The CICCRA report highlights: “In February 2023, the moving average of the last twelve
months of the per capita consumption of beef andequivalent to 49.3 kg/year and was 4.2% higher than February 2022 (+2.0 kg/inhab/year)”.
meat consumption improved 4.2% compared to February last year
This estimate arises from subtracting from the total beef production, certified exports of beef.
“We came, in terms of consumption, as in the time of Julian Dominguez at the beginning of this Government: 47.5 Kg/inhab. And now we would be at 49.3. This combination occurs: there is a price increase, an increase in supply and an increase in prices, “he says to iProfessional Andrés Costamagna, expert in the livestock market.
The key to improvement consumption is that the price of meat, with the increase and everything, continues to evolve below the rest.
According to INDEC, the increase in popular cuts it was between 80% and 85% in the last year. Below the 103.3% that food became more expensive, on average. That is, the meat is still “cheap” in relation to the rest.
what will happen to the prices
Costamagna foresees that stability in the precio of the last two weeks in the Cañuelas farm market will be reversed soon.
Specifically from the month of April. “In March, the price usually stabilizes because consumers spend on other items, due to the start of classes, but next month the strong increases return,” Costamagna told iProfessional.
The price of meat has a weight of 9% in the INDEC price index. In fact, the Eco Go consultancy estimated that the “meatless” index (removing meat from the February measurement) would have given 5.5% (1.1 points less than that reported), while the food item would show a rise of 5.6% (4.2 points less than the 9.8% measured by INDEC). The meat has a weight of 31.5% in the food category.
