Tire values in the country are exorbitant when compared to what they are worth abroad. That is why they are so valued in the informal market
For iProfessional
12/31/2022 – 10:32 a.m.
The tires they are the new vedette of the step illegal of merchandise. In the last three months, the AFIP seized almost 6,500 wheels for an estimated value of $456,000,000 that entered from smuggling; Federal Police, meanwhile, measures seizures in tons. They already have 60 tons of tires in the same period of time with a last and resounding operation in Misiones in which 800 tires were seized for a value of 400 million pesos.
“The seizure increased considerably in the last three months and is explained by the paralysis of the plants, due to the increase in precautionary measures raised by the companies to import and above all because of the price”, explains the head of Customs, Guillermo Michel.
For five months the tire workers, grouped in the SUTNA union, demanded better wages. The conflict was in crescendo and put the companies on the ropes Bridgestone, Fate and Pirelli. Tire production came to a standstill and a mini crisis broke out in the national government, which –through the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa- threatened to open up imports. Finally, the workers got what they demanded and everything returned to normal. Even the prices, more expensive in the country than in any of the bordering neighbors.
The precautionary measures seek to prevent the exit of dollars from the Central Bank and are granted to different importers by the Justice. In this sense, Customs reviewed these provisions and resolved to deregister companies that it considered presented irregular proposals.
Three tire importers appear in the top 5 of blocked precautionary measures for a total of $155,864,581. But this also meant that the tires did not enter the country, at least through these companies, reported Newsweek magazine.
Beyond precautionary measures and union conflicts, there is a certainty: the values of tires in Argentina are exorbitant when compared to what they sell abroad. That is why they are so valued in the informal market.
The wheels are changed in the workshops in the border area
Contraband: heThe locations of the tire pass on the border
Aguas Blancas is a border town that is in Salta, just under 50 km. from the city of Oran. On the other side, the Bolivian city of Bermejo. Thousands of citizens circulate there daily, coming and going across the border. From there to here they take advantage of the devalued prices to make your daily purchases and household appliances. Argentines cross in small boats called “chalanas” to buy clothing and -basically- tires.
Coming here can be so convenient that it can reduce costs up to four times. That is to say: you can change the four wheels of the car for a value for which in Argentina only one would be changed. It is common to see compatriots return to the country with tires slung over their shoulders. The alternative is to pay the “pasero”, usually a young individual who wraps wheels in duct tape and assembles into bundles of up to 5 of them.
He supports them on his head and brings them into the country aboard the barges. For each “bagayo” of 5 ribbons, the passerby charges 3 thousand pesos. According to what they say, they can spend as many times as daylight allows.
According to the 2010 census, Aguas Blancas has 1,413 inhabitants, but they say there are 2,000. In the town there are four open tire shops, an average of 500 inhabitants per tire shop. But the secret is that all the visitors who carry the wheels on their backs change them before leaving town. Nobody wants to come across Gendarmerie on the road and lose merchandise and money. The prosperity of the town’s rubber shops is enviable.
In Ciudad del Este the prices are similar: each tire costs a quarter of what it costs in Argentina. In Iguazú, the “promoters” of this service help to skip the Migration lines and, at the slightest doubt, they give Argentines alignment and balance as a gift. And they even offer an additional service: they smear the tires with white earth to make them look used.
According to official information from the AFIP, the borders are the place through which they enter but the subsequent circulation routes must also be considered, the sheds where the merchandise is “cooled”. It is a circuit that moves millions of pesos.
Ingenious formulas to smuggle tires
The most usual way to smuggle wheels from abroad is through parcels. They pass them, they cool them and then they are sent in parcels to the different parts of the country. While AFIP seizes at the border, the police monitor all this subsequent circuit.
“The strangest thing is that we found tires inside other tires. We have made seizures of shots in which Inside a tire came 3 or 4 more without air pressure“, reveals Michel. To put one rubber inside another, they bar the heel and that rubber is no longer the same. To this we must add that it is unknown who makes them and where.
