Imports and prices. With these two issues at the top of the agenda, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, and the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce, and the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, will meet the producers of mass consumption this Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of the meetingit is to negotiate the dollar needs of companies in exchange for an increase in production instead of increasing prices“, said official sources.

The Government has already sent invitations to representatives of 6 leading brands, including Arcor, Molinos, Quilmes, Unilever, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. This is the first face-to-face conversation between the leaders of the economic area and the largest product suppliers in the service price basket, whose program was renewed on 7 July. Hours before, Tombolini will receive the Copal dome, the food chamber.

Expectations on both sides are disparate. From the economic area they aspire to meet in advance plans to import supplies and goods of companies for the remainder of 2022 and all of 2023. Promise to respond to demand for foreign and other currencies on condition that they increase production and avoid fallout on prices. For their part, the companies will bring their own script.

“Leading mass consumer brands have given Price Care very strong and clear support. Now, during the pandemic there has been a price delay of up to 30% and in 2021 it did not recover. In addition, the costs of raw materials and labor continue to rise. It is producing at full capacity for the current demand “, explained a qualified source in the sector.

Producers argue that consumption is stabilizing and decreasing, “why the real salary is late“, and that is why the level of production is adequate for this context. In the previous one, the Secretariat of Commerce anticipates that the priority of the Government is to take care of the reserves of the Central Bank and curb the overtaking of importssomething that encourages the exchange rate gap.

Tombolini has a key tool for negotiating with the private sector: under its orbit there was also the supervision and approval of SIMI, the preliminary procedure for the entry of goods from abroad. His plan, as he stated as soon as he took office, is to reformulate the Care Prices program once again to serve as a shelf reference guide.

He spoke in particular of the return to the original formula (it was implemented in 2014) and which contains a basket with products from leading brands in order to affect the main basic categories.

“What we have to try is to find agreements that are stable over time, at least a quarter”, he said, in “a context of enormous price dispersion”. On the other hand, she assured that “there will be no controls or anything like that” and that “agreements will be sought and consumers themselves will monitor compliance”.

Tombolini has made progress in recent weeks with sector agreements, such as dairy and baked goods, and in the coming days it will be the turn of oil. This Monday, together with the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, they agreed with laboratories and pharmacies to renew “the commitment of the sector to collaborate and maintain a predictable trajectory of drug prices”.