The concern: the impact on inflation
This Monday, Jose Ignacio de MendigurenSecretary of Industry and Productive Development, said Monday that heto January inflation it will be higher than that of December, when it registered 5.1%. One of the officials of the economic team acknowledged that the first month of 2023 will mark a price increase higher than December, breaking the promise of the Minister of Economy that the figure would decrease until it reached 3% in April. The Survey of Market Expectations (REM) of the Central Bank had anticipated that the number would be around 5.6%. One of the reasons that prompted this data was the increase in meat.
A recent report by the consultancy Labor Capital and Growth (LCG) revealed that the increased meat began to be observed in the gondolas in the last seven days of January and pushed inflation of the month to a value close to 5.9%, while, until the fourth week of last month, it estimated that index at 5.4%. It is because of the strong incidence that this food has in the basket. Far from stopping in January, the upward trend persists in February.
The main explanation is the increase in the price of meat in the Cañuelas Agricultural Market (MEG) whose transfer to prices, although it will be gradual, is a fact. In 2022, meat rose well below inflation, due to the drought: increased 62% in Greater Buenos Aires, according to INDEC, against inflation of 94.8%. The speed of recovery of the lost will be marked by the limits imposed by internal demand or by price agreements.
He survey carried out by the Mediterranean Foundation in the third week of January 2023 revealed that the average price of a basket of eight cuts medium/high quality Argentina It was from $1,780 per kilo, compared to Brazil.
However, in the survey carried out andn the first week of Februarythis price had risen to $2,267 per kilogram, representing a rise of 27.3%an average price 11.4% higher than Brazil.
Members of the industry butchers, refrigerators and butchers warned that there may be increases around the 40% in these weeks, since they insist that the price was very late with respect to the acceleration of the values of the rest of the economy. It is worth remembering that during December 2022 meat did not have an impact on the inflation data within the food item, as did fruits and vegetables with significant increases of the order of 46%, with six products among the first twenty that registered the highest increases.
Finally, it is also expected that the Government announce the implementation of a plan with discounts of 10% for the purchase of beef with debit cards in butcher shops that adhere to the initiative. In this way, consumers could receive refunds on your purchases up to $1,000 per transaction.
Source: Ambito
