The government’s plan to curb beef prices has been met with discrepancies among agribusiness leaders.
The president of the Argentine Rural Society, Nicolás Pino, considered that “it is a discriminatory measure that generates disincentives to production. Measures of this kind have been taken for several years and production has not grown, while other countries continue to gain internal and external markets.
Mario Ravettino, president of the ABC Consortium (which brings together most of the exporting refrigerators) underlined that “the volume has been increased (from 3,000 to 18,000 tons, according to the Economy Minister, Sergio Massa) and that” the price level reached up.
Until March 31, the values will be as follows: roast, 1,035 dollars per kilo; buttock: $1,375 per pound; matambre, $1,370 per kilo; empty, $1,351 a pound; skirt: $675 per kilo; pallets: $1,113 per kilo; roasted couverture, $1,035 a pound.
As explained by the Ministry of Economy, the program aims to promote the production of beef affected by the drought, as well as the “bank marketing of sales and access to consumers at affordable prices and with a predictable price path”.
For livestock consultant Víctor Tonelli it is “a grandstand ball. It is always the same, nothing new under the sun: an agreement with supermarket chains and exporters that serve the 30% of consumers with the greatest resources”.
On the other aspects announced, Tonelli does not see them clearly. For example, it is not understood “how the informal butchers will accept the proposal (many of them are not even authorized)” indeed it portends difficulties for the vast majority of those who operate as mono-tax payers, in a business that goes over 3 times or more the ‘invoicing amount allowed by the system’.
Finally, the consultant, the subsidy feedlot, only “reminds him of the excesses and corruption of the Ricardo Echegaray era which ended with the “theft” of evidence that would have convicted him and the closure of the former Oncca (National Audit Office ) Comercial Agropecuario), in the government of the CFK (Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
In particular regarding the plan for producers to offer more meat in 120 days, Pino said that “it is a discriminatory measure because drought affects everyone regardless of the number of animals they have. And this program does not integrate all, but some”.
And he concluded: “These interventionist signals generate disincentives to production and in our country recent history shows that they do not generate a greater supply of meat. We hope that the announced measure of the skins will be transferred to the price that the producers receive”.
Source: Clarin
