In the context of the debate about prices in the Argentine market, the CEO of Gomería Neumen, Roberto Méndez, publicly acknowledged that before the deregulation promoted by the government of Javier Milei, tires were sold at excessive prices and with very high margins, favored by a protectionist model.
During an interview on the Ahora Play streaming channel, the businessman was categorical when he referred to the situation prior to the regulatory changes. “They were extremely expensive, one has to acknowledge it. I say that the multinationals were stealing and we, the business owners, were stealing, because we had a market that was not real. We never made as much money as when we were allowed to do what we were doing,” he stated, in a declaration that bluntly exposed the impact of the restrictions on final prices.
His words put the focus on the distorted functioning of the market during the years of greater obstacles to external competition under the Kirchnerist governments.
As he explained, the lack of a free market created conditions that allowed marking up prices far above usual parameters. “I view positively what Sturzenegger says when he says that he is going to force all companies to adapt to a normal profitability, which would be around 20%. At one point we were marking up with 60–70%,” he recounted, drawing a clear distinction between the previous stage and the current scenario.
