The truth is that this official decision opens up a new scenario of tension between the large companies in the sector and the Government. Despite the fact that this sanction, according to the file, arises from an event that occurred on August 13, 2015, when, within the framework of the “Flour Festival”, the four parties denounced and “at least 107 companies” sealed the called “General agreement on free competition in the milling sector”, which would imply the setting of minimum prices in an agreed manner throughout the sector, in what Internal Trade considered an “institutionalized cartel”.
Strictly speaking, Molino Cañuelas is currently the main wheat flour processor in Argentina, where it captures more than 30% of the market thanks to its 15 industrial units. This company, in short, is the most important in an area where multiple SMEs operate and only two other large ones stand out: Morixe and Molinos Río de la Plata.
In this context, FAIM, through a statement, rejected the resolution for being “grossly arbitrary” and considered that the fine is “exorbitant and unfounded.”
“Beyond the illegality of the decision, FAIM is convinced that the resolution responds to other interests, which exceed the adequate legal framework and due process, since said resolution has as its antecedent an administrative process initiated in 2015 in where the parties presented all the evidence and evidence that there was no action to be sanctioned, ”said the entity.
In any case, the official decision sets a precedent, because the truth is that currently wholesale flour prices first go through the Secretary of Domestic Trade and that is why in the business sector this decision is read as “explicit pressure” from the Government before the supply problems that happened weeks ago.
In this context, the food industry as a whole is extremely concerned about new maneuvers that the Government may establish against other companies in key areas such as noodles, yerba mate, sugar and oil, because in all of them there is evidence of a strong degree of concentration.
The end of this story is still open, Molino Cañuelas and the fined milling associations promise to go to court to appeal the sanction, while from the Government they promise to closely monitor the concentration in the food business with the bet that April begins to show a stabilization in the prices of the basic basket.
Source: Ambito
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