Following the deregulation of the sector, the price of yerba mate increase 35.3% in two months. In April, when prices were released, a package of kilo was sold to $3,400 By the end of June it was already costing $4,700.
The accumulated increase in the price of yerba mate in the second quarter of the year was higher than the food inflation accumulated in that period, which reached 14.4%Meanwhile, the prices of yerba mate packets rose, on average, 35.3% in those months, according to a report prepared by UADE.
Since 2002 and until March of this year, the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) was in charge of setting the reference values. During the first stage of production, the agency negotiated and established minimum prices that guaranteed producers would cover their expenses and obtain a margin of gain.
Following deregulation in April, industries in the “intermediate stages” of the production chain must pay a highest value to buy the raw material, which involved “a price increase in the packages of yerba mate that are for sale in supermarkets.”
“The price increase of kilo of green leaf “It moved from the production chain to the final price,” the report said, adding that those most affected “were the consumers.”
Yerba mate: how much did the price of yerba mate increase after deregulation
From April to June, the package of yerba mate went up 35.3%a product of the deregulation of the sector. In the first week of April, a kilo package of top brand was sold at $3,400, while in the first days of June, the same product cost $4,700However, in the first week of July, it slowed down and was at $3,950.
According to the UADE report, this product rose above the accumulated food inflation in that period, which was 14.4%.
Domestic versus imported yerba mate: how the opening of imports affected
In March, the Government opened the imports for basic basket products, after the strong increases in food prices. One of them was the yerba mate from Uruguay and Paraguay.
According to the UADE report, “the packages of yerba brought from abroad have prices higher than or similar to national prices”, which “had no effect on the prices offered to the market by companies”.
In June, half a kilo of Argentine yerba mate cost $2,300a value similar to those from Paraguay, $2,900Meanwhile, packages of Uruguayan yerba mate were on the shelves at $4,500, 95.65% more expensive than those of national production.
Source: Ambito
