This afternoon, the Government presented a new price agreement which will be added to the renewed Fair Prices and will be the continuation of Careful Cuts, called the Comprehensive Program to Promote Meat Production and Consumption. This proposal arises from the high increase that meat has since the month of January of this year and the first week of February.
On the other hand, it is known that the devastating drought that affects the agro-industrial sector for the third consecutive year, caused Given the imminent danger that cows will die due to high temperatures and a water emergency, the industry sold bovine meat at low prices in order to “get rid of them”. Today, the situation is reversed, and producers demand increases for being behind. Meat leads the increases in the Basic Basket, so it requires a price agreement.
Starting this Friday, the price agreement to boost consumption comes into effect, and dictates that six cuts of meat can be found with prices up to 35% lower. The meat cuts and their prices are: empty$1,351; matambre$1,310; skirt$675; roast lid$1,035; buttock, $1,375; and pallette, $1,113. The prices of these products will be frozen until March 31, when they will achieve a guideline of price increases of 3.2% per month until June 30.
In the words of the Minister of Economy of the Nation, Sergio Massa, “The drought increased the volume of slaughter and kept prices below inflation, but the rise began to be felt in January. That is why we attack the problems while looking at the great challenge: increasing the number of bellies and production. But in the short term you have to take care of the pocket of the Argentines. For his part, the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, said that “we had to act” and the negotiation with the industry was “rough.”
Other measures
Three other measures were announced, the first of which is to provide a deferred price for the payment of tax obligations to the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) by butcher shops that are subject to the Simplified Regime for small taxpayers and will be for 90 days.
The second is that Banco Nación will offer a line of loans for up to three months for working capital, and the last is that consumers will receive a refund of 10% of the total purchase with debit cards, with a limit of 2 thousand pesos per calendar month, equivalent to monthly purchases of 20 thousand pesos.