The minister of Work and Social Security (MTSS), Pablo Mieresreferred to the purchase of three refrigerators in Uruguay by the Brazilian multinational Minerva Foods to its competitor Marfrigand affirmed that the concentration of the market in one or a few hands “is not a positive phenomenon”.
Mieres made these statements today at a press conference, after being asked about the MTSS’s vision of the new contracts and potential layoffs carried out by Minerva in the recently acquired cannelloni, Leap and Saint Joseph.
“Minerva has not arrived, but has been in the country for many years,” said the minister, who added that Minerva Foods now incorporates “a significant percentage of the beef slaughter market in Uruguay“.
“It is in the hands of the commission that is in charge of defending competition,” he said, referring to the Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Competitionwhich depends on Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
“There must always be a regulatory agency in any market that prevents phenomena that are not positive, such as the concentration of an activity in a few hands or in a single hand,” he stressed.
The three meatpacking plants that Minerva bought from Marfrig represent approximately 18% of the beef slaughter market in the country, so Minerva would manage to monopolize up to 45% of the national slaughter, something that aroused criticism from various sectors industrialists and politicians.
The purchase of the Marfrig plants must go through the Defense of Competition, said Arbeleche
Yesterday, the head of the MEF, lily arbelecheheld at a press conference that the purchase of Marfrig’s refrigeration plants must go through the Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Competition, the agency of his portfolio.
“I am not going to pronounce myself until that analysis (of the transaction) is done and made public,” the minister concluded.
Source: Ambito
