After 4 months of export restrictions and losses of millions of dollars, the government was unable to lower the price of meat to consumers

Four months after the beef export restrictions were put in place, values ​​at butcher shops and supermarkets saw slight declines, while the livestock and meat chain said the measure caused losses. of more than $ 1 billion, according to calculations by Sociedad Rural Argentina, with a sharp drop in shipments to China, the main importer of national meat.

The latest report from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Meat and Derivatives (CICCRA), stated that Over the past month, by combining values ​​in butcher shops and supermarkets, the average price of consumer cuts experienced a monthly contraction of 0.2% in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA).

During the period analyzed, the butcher’s price fell by 0.1% in the first fortnight and by 0.4% in the second. Remember that in July the drop was 1% and in August it was 0.8% per month. In supermarkets, the average price rose 1.6% between the second half of August and the first half of September, to drop 2.3% in the second half of the month. As a result, the average price of pieces sold in supermarkets increased by 1% last month.

After the liberalization of the previously unregulated export of canned or manufactured beef to China, livestock specialists warned that any increase in consumer prices would not respond to exports, but to challenges. macroeconomic (monetary issue) and supply. The Economist Salvador Di Stefano He estimated that if “the gestures of the Government for an approach on the ground are welcome, the measures have little flavor: it continues to exercise price control which has all the conditions to fail.”

“We have to say that the reopening of exports is beneficial, but in no case will this measure lower the value of the meat at the counter. He who warns does not betray, ”added Di Stefano. In November, forecast, supply will be scarce and the price of meat will rise. According to the analyst, this is a structural problem due to the absence, over the past 45 years, of a serious cattle policy, because from all the measures it appears that the herd and the number of cattle farms have declined considerably.

In the same vein, the expert spoke Victor Tonelli. “The origin of the increase has not been resolved, namely the negative margin of the last 100 kilos of corral fattening due to expensive wintering, expensive feed and low prices. This has not been addressed and is not directly related to exporting. If nothing is done and the animals are still not locked in the last stage of fattening, because the number does not give, let’s prepare for a price increase in the domestic market due to a shortage or of a shortage in November and December, so that they do not think again about what is to release the cow in China. This is an issue that must be addressed or we will stumble on the same stone, ”he said in dialogue with Infobae.

Exports

The CICCRA report states that last August, the volume of beef exported experienced a “significant recovery” after the drop in the June-July period due to restrictions imposed by the government. In the eighth month of the year, 45,900 product-weight tonnes were exported, 25.7% more than the average of previous months shipments. But year over year, shipments fell 14%; some were defeated 7,400 tonnes of cuts of meat less.

On the other hand, in the first eight months, 381,000 tonnes of product by weight were exported, equivalent to 536,300 tonnes of bone-in beef, a 4.9% year-on-year decline. The report also points out that the biggest impact of export stocks was the drop in the share of shipments to China, which fell 70.8% in August.. In addition, in August, beef export turnover was US $ 240 million, down 2.6% from the same month of 2020.

Criticisms of officials

In the monthly report, CICCRA qualifies as unjustified “the delay in the dissemination of official slaughter data to be promoted by the Directorate of Agricultural Commercial Control, headed by Luciano Zarich. “For many years, information was published on the second or third working day of the following month. We think they are trying to delay information to the livestock sector about what happened in each month of the year, ”they said from the entity.

There are also questions about the new head of the agricultural portfolio, Julián Domínguez. On the one hand, because of the failure to respect the commitment made in the minutes signed with the Liaison Committee to free cow exports to China, and on the other hand, for having declared the meat, the wheat and corn as “social goods”.

Regarding the release of sales to China, the Government agreed, before formalizing the measure through its publication in the Official Journal, the Government, through the Ministry of Productive Development, in charge of Matias Kulfas, Supermarkets and refrigerators have signed an act to ratify the current “Popular Prices” program until the end of the year, ensuring a floor of 6,000 tonnes per month in the cable cars.

Regarding “social goods”, at CICCRA, they underlined that “the minister (Domínguez) shows enormous confusion concerning what a social good is and what the state must protect. It is a totalitarian thought that a young democracy like ours should not allow. The only social goods enshrined in the national constitution are: security, justice, education and health ”.

The entity insisted on the need for a dialogue between the Government and the productive and industrial sectors, “the only permanent contributors of real dollars to our country”.

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