Without state intervention, companies backtrack on increases of up to 20%.
A supermarket
porEditorial Team
Argentina
From food to plastics, numerous companies decided to roll back price increases
This week, the Minister of Economy, Luis "Toto" Caputo, pointed to Molinos and Unilever for applying excessive price increases that ranged between 7% and 12% in supermarkets. However, these companies were not the only ones to make increases.
However, they were not alone when it came to rolling back the increases, naturally and without any intervention from the State. This behavior was not limited exclusively to the food sector.
The canning company AVA, responsible for the Canale and Alco brands, communicated to its customers: "Supporting and accompanying the macroeconomic process that our country is experiencing, we are rolling back until further notice the validity of list 58 with all its prices and discounts".
Javier Milei y Luis Caputo.
"There was an overdraft, an overreaction from the suppliers", said Juan Vasco Martínez, executive director of the United Supermarkets Association (ASU), in statements to Radio AM750. Martínez also warned that smaller supermarkets received even higher increases, with hikes of around 20% at the beginning of the week.
Adjustments were also observed in the industrial sector. On Monday, several companies applied strong increases that began to moderate as the dollar fell from $1,230 at the beginning of the week to $1,160 by Wednesday's close.
An example is Mapsa, a manufacturer of plastic bags and other similar products, which announced a 20% increase on Monday morning, coinciding with the implementation of the new exchange band between $1,000 and $1,400.
Javier Milei, presidente de Argentina.
"This company is 48 years old, we've lived through all the Ministers of Economy. We just cover ourselves", explained the CEO of Mapsa, José Summer Sasin, in a conversation with A24. He recounted that the company held a board meeting on Monday night, where it was decided to reduce the 20% increase to 10%, understanding that it was a temporary drop.
However, they clarified that they ended up rolling back the entire increase. "Then, on Tuesday when we saw that the dollar drop was here to stay, we decided to directly lift the increase", he concluded.
