The prices of the cuts of beef registered a rise of 29% in February compared to the previous month and grew 76.8% in interannual terms, according to the report of the Center for Argentine Political Economy (CEPA).
In this way, in that month “a fairly uniform impact of the increases can be observed in relation to the different cuts, where the intermediate ones are the ones that increased their prices the most: 30.5%, while the expensive and economic ones showed a rise of 29.2% and 27.7% respectively”, specified CEPA.
What were the cuts that increased the most?
The main increases in February occurred in wide (34.2%), square (32.9%) and shoulder steaks (32.1%).
According to the marketing channel, in the case of butcher shops, the average price of beef registered a rise of 33.5% in comparison with January, “exceeding by more than 15 points the increases of beef in supermarkets (18% )”.
In addition, in relation to the prices of substitute products for beef, in the case of chicken, it registered a drop of 0.2% in February, after “nine consecutive months with average increases that exceeded the average increases of beef”.
To a large extent, they highlight the price increase explains, Between other reasons, the reduction in the consumption of bovine meat in recent years, having been replaced by other types of cheaper meat, such as poultry or pork. According to the sectoral report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, per capita consumption of beef stood at 49 kg/inhab/year in February
Furthermore, the CEPA report stated that, “if a cut is made from May 2022 to February 2023, the price of meat increased 41% while the CPI reached 69%”.
However, they explained “that this comparison is biased, since, if the series is extended from the beginning of 2020, it is observed that the price of meat splits from the CPI at the end of 2020, always remaining above the latter, except in the brief period of last December and January”.
This way, “When comparing both indicators from October 2020 to the present, the data indicates that meat increased 325% and the CPI rose to 249%”specified CEPA.
Source: Ambito
