With renewed impetus and despite previous failures, the Secretary of Commerce, led by Matías Tombolini, will make official this Thursday “Fair Neighborhood Prices”, consisting of a basket with almost 100 basic products at regulated prices for warehouses, supermarkets and local businesses. In this first phase, the program will run until July 31st. Prices “will remain fixed for 45 days and from 15 July they will have a maximum increase of 3.8%“explained an official source.
To date Tombolini has entered into agreements with about thirty producers (Arcor, Mastellone, Unilever, Mondelez, Colgate and Nestlé) to form a basket of 97 consumer items (food, beverages, toiletries and cleaning products), which will be offered throughout the national territory by wholesaler chains and large-scale retailers, including Vital, Maxiconsumo, Diarco, Yaguar, Parodi, Makro, Micropack and Nini.
The list you accessed clarion and modifiable at the last minute, it details brands, formats, factory outlet prices and the final price, which changes according to the area of the country. “In some regions the values are higher for logistical reasons”a private sector source explained.
For example, a 262-gram package of Chocolinas cookies has a factory cost of $169.81 to be wholesaled at $255.94. In AMBA outlets it will cost $341.25 and in the rest of the province of Buenos Aires $353.2. In downtown and on the coast it will be $360.02; in the north, at $365.14 and in Patagonia, at $368.55. These limit values will be frozen until mid-July, official sources say.
To the Secretariat of Commerce They promise to post the full list on the internet this Thursday. So far, the basket contains groceries (rice, oil, flour, tomato puree, jams and breadcrumbs, for example), toiletries (deodorant, shampoo, soap, conditioner and disposable diapers), cleaning products clothes, detergents), dairy products, soft drinks, beers and drinking yoghurts, among many others.
This new version of “Fair Neighborhood Prices” (that’s the name on the list) expresses enormous official concern about the inflationary escalation of recent months. In April, the cost of living rose by 8.4%, thanks to the increase in seasonal products (12.8%) and in the food and beverage category, which stood at 10.8%. Advisors estimate a low of 9% for May and that inflation will continue to be high in June.
The numbers reflect little or no effectiveness of the Fair Pricing program in setting benchmark prices and cushioning the constant price increase. Companies are wary of this new attempt to extend regulated prices to small businesses, which are now concentrated in large supermarket chains. fear is the difficulty of control offer levels and sales prices in supermarkets, warehouses, shops and fairs throughout the country.
Paula Español (with Super Close) and Roberto Feletti (+ Careful Prices) in 2021 had already tried unsuccessfully in 2020, two of Tombolini’s predecessors. Both ventures failed for the same reason: the notorious lack of products.
Fair Prices today covers a universe of 25,000 products, which today have a maximum increase of 5% per month, divided into two phases: 3.2% in the first week of the month and another 1.8% from the 20th. It allowed to large chains to gain market share at the expense of small businesses.
In April, sales in independent and Asian supermarkets fell by 16.6%. And in the first week of May, the contraction rose to 21.6%. “The cumulative data for the year leaves us with a contraction of -8.2% in consumption”, underlines a report by the consultancy firm Scanntech.
Source: Clarin
