“We take note, we are going to make evaluations and We will be able to give answers to some measures and not to others.. The Minister (of Economy, Sergio Massa) will evaluate it and make the corresponding decisions,” he said.
The sector is going through a complex moment as a result of a “harvest with a volume, perhaps, the lowest in the last thirty years” -Bahillo recalled- due to “the inclement weather such as late frosts and some hail“.
“We are following it very closely because it is a very important economy with thousands of players and everything that it generates as a regional economy in a number of jobs, so our attention is very focused there,” said the official.
wine import
The secretary also referred to the controversy generated around the authorization of import of 564,000 liters of Sauvignon Blanc variety wine in January by the Peñaflor Groupwhich brings together wineries such as Trapiche, Las Moras or Navarro Correas.
The authorization, disclosed through the newspaper Uno de Mendoza, generated criticism from the Mendoza government. However, Bahillo clarified that it was a exceptional situation.
“This was a very exceptional specific matter that was authorized by the Secretary of Commerce (Matias Tombolini). It has to do with a commitment that the winery had abroad so as not to lose a market and that, as a result of the hail, the late afternoons and various weather issues, he could not get this wine to be able to fulfill that commitment,” the secretary explained.
Later, emphasized the government decision not to authorize imports and prioritize wine productionsomething that -Massa stated in an act in La Rioja last week- it will happen “until the last grape of Argentine production is sold”.
“We continue to support the same thing, which is the idea of not authorizing the importation of wine. 1,500 million liters of wine are produced in our country and in this case only 50,000 liters were imported which is an absolutely insignificant volume,” Bahillo reiterated.
Boost to meat production
Finally, the secretary referred to the new comprehensive program to promote the production and consumption of meat with prices approximately 35% lower than those in force in the large supermarket chains from Friday and, later, with a pattern of increase between April and June of 3.2% per month.
the new program “Fair Meat Prices”, which replaces “Careful Cuts”, increases the contribution provided by the Consortium of Meat Exporters (ABC) from 4,000 tons per month to between 15,000 and 18,000according to Bahillo.
“The meat had an update in the price after a value of the live kilo that from April (last) to the first days of January had practically not nominally grown at all,” he recalled.
He claimed that these “cyclical behaviors and oscillations” are common in the value of meat, and that there was “an expectation that this was going to happen.”
In addition, he pointed out that the International meat prices “recomposed” in recent monthswith a recovery in the volume of purchases from China and, in the local case, an impact due to the “scarce forage supply” in animal feeding due to the drought.
Source: Ambito
