The cost of a tin of salmon jumped from 50,000 to 100,000 pesos on Monday, a trader in the sector said. Shutterstock photo.
struck by the difficulties in importing salmon and rising dollarand with the aim of “get out quickly” from a delicate economic situation in the face of rising prices, a group of sushi restaurants has decided to replace that ingredient, which comes from Chile, with another product of national origin such as trout from Patagonia.
As Sergio Asato, collaborator of the Gastro Japo Club, a group of entrepreneurs dedicated to Japanese gastronomy, explains, “The salmon had risen a lot”. However, after the structural changes that have taken place at the national level, and clearly for their consequences, commodity prices doubled this Monday.
“When we started placing orders, the prices doubled: before we bought a box of salmon for 50 thousand pesos and now it was 100 thousand”, he explained in statements to TN.
In this sense, he clarified that “the salmon is entering” Argentina, but noted that previously three trucks were arriving with that product and “now only one truck has passed”.
“I guess whoever imports salmon has to go to the dollar border, otherwise they won’t give you the salmon truck. I our case, before we had a bank account to pay for the salmon in a few days, and now we don’t“, he described.
The confirmation of the change of a key sushi ingredient.
The trader admitted that the situation “was beginning to worry them”. For this reason, they had talks between the representatives of the group, which includes premises in the city of Buenos Aires, the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Luján and La Plata, and started thinking about alternatives to overcome these obstacles because, otherwise, “They wouldn’t last long.”
“We are always trying to find a way around it. and we found a great tool. We realized that if we all come up with something together, we have a certain tendency among the followers of sushi or Japanese gastronomy, “Asato said, regarding the joint decision to replace salmon with” national white fish “, as detailed in the Instagram account of that group, consisting of 60 restaurants.
Japanese gastronomy entrepreneurs had to resort to ingenuity to “alleviate the situation”. Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
In that direction, the gastronomic entrepreneur explained that, in the recent past, even in the face of adverse situations, it was necessary to resort to ingenuity to overcome them. “The first time we went out with lemon fish, we spread it all together and it made a big impact,” he said.
“After the pandemic, the salmon trucks were not from Chile and we started spreading Japanese dishes with regional products, using vegetables, chicken, pork, meat and we put together a Japanese topical dish and it worked for us.” he remarked.
“Argentine” sushi: the “slight” difference between salmon and trout
Asato explained that, in his view, there is a “slight” inequality between salmon and trout. “It’s nice to vary and feel the difference,” he said.
“The salmon comes in at 4 or 5 kilos and the trout at 3 or 4 kilos, like a big one. But the flesh, in appearance, is almost the same, and the taste is delicate. Salmon is a bit fatter and trout has firmer flesh, ”the deli trader pointed out.
Industrialists and traders, on alert for the dollar
In recent days, the rise of the dollar has put industrialists and traders on alert. With the argument “having no reference prices”, some companies have decided not to sell their products for fear of not being able to replenish their stocks against the rise of the dollar. Those who did, first applied important observations.
Uncertainty about sales and prices was found essentially in items such as clothing, footwear, construction and gastronomy. In supermarkets, however, the price changes were those authorized by the Ministry of Commerce, in the order of 4-5%.
Appliances, on the other hand, were in high demand over the weekend, particularly those included in the official “Now 12” program, as installments became the main magnet for consumers eager to beat inflation.
These price movements so far in July add to the inertia it has been the inflation accumulating so far this year is 29.3% until May.
In the coming days, INDEC will announce the June figure, which has already been discarded, will be higher than that of May: it will be close to 5.4%, according to economists, removing the possibility of the expected slowdown by the government. That 5.4% is already seen as a “floor” for July.
IS
Source: Clarin
