After the impact of the currency rush on inflation, the government seeks to extend the basket of regulated products to local companies, including Chinese ones. The idea is to incorporate them into negotiations to update Fair Prices, a program that gives May will come with increases of up to 5% per month and will be valid for 90 days.
Last week, the Secretary of Commerce, chaired by Matías Tombolini, met with the Chamber of Distributors and Self-Service Wholesalers (CADAM) to agree on a suggested price” for sales at shops nearby. There is talk of two monthly adjustments, 3.8% at the beginning of the month and 1.2% at the end of the month.
Until now, the official program has reached the big chains, with adjustments every 45 days of 3.2% on over 10,000 products. and the freezing of another 2,000 products. But due to pressure from businesses and accelerating inflation, the authorities started negotiating a renewal of the deal, which was expected to last until the end of June.
In Marchcost of living rose 7.7% -the highest variation since 2002- and food was one of the items with the highest incidence on average. It amassed a 9.3% increase, almost three times the regulated basket. The official reading is that the increases have been greatest in nearby supermarkets, where fair prices do not apply and suppliers have more room to emphasise.
The next step will be to involve this sector, with more than 60% of the mass sales channel. “We want the dealer know at what price you will buy, once defined, we work on a basket that contemplates a commercial profit margin of between 20 and 25% and from there we establish a price for between 40 and 50 basic necessities”, the economic team pointed out.
Comercio negotiates with large supermarket chains (ASU), manufacturers of consumer products and wholesalers. With the Chinese and neighborhood shops, recognize that it is “green” for “fragmentation” in different chambers and the difficulty of verifying them. In fact, the close basket has already been tried on other occasions, without results.
Advisors raised by the Central Bank expect an inflation of 126.4% for 2023 and 7.5% for April. The data will be released this Friday after the INDEC reversed course last week. The body had announced that it would delay the publication until Monday 15 after the provincial elections, but in the end it has kept the original timetable.
At the same time he is also looking for Sergio Massa’s team restore prices that have skyrocketed due to the currency rush. More than a week ago, in a meeting with the CGT and social leaders, the minister asked for an agreement on prices and wages, with the aim of avoiding “unrest”. But given the difficulty of specifying it, we are now considering authorizing smaller increases.
“The issue of comment rollback was raised early on, but companies told us it was tricky, so if commodities were up 12% in April, instead of giving you 3.2%, we give you the “1.2%, a minor increase, which is why we asked for last month’s price lists”, explained sources close to the deal.
With a greater impact on low-income sectors of the population, food and beverage remains at a high level. “Average monthly inflation continues at high levels, at 8.7% per month,” according to LCG’s survey for the first week of May, which showed a slight slowdown.
For the focus market, food was up 8.9% in April. In the last 15 days gondolas have recorded increases between 7 and 15% depending on the category. “All categories of mass consumption travel in triple-digit interannual inflation compared to April 2022, beverages up 108%, housekeeping up 116% and personal care up 125.6% on average,” he said Damian Di Pace.
Source: Clarin
