Operators that export beef denounced in dialogue with this medium that, for two weeks, they have suffered delays “longer than usual” of the state control agencies that must give the authorizations to send merchandise to China, the main export market in volume.
“In the last two weeks, more red channels than green channels came out than usual. This implies that the Afip has to go to the refrigerating establishment or to the place where the load is to be controlled, but as they argue that they do not have enough personnel, controls are delayed and, consequently, exports”, they pointed to THE NATION sources from the commercial sector linked to the export business. They have not been able to know so far why this situation occurs.
In the face of a query from this medium, Customs has not yet released a response. In recent times, Customs has denounced refrigerators and companies for alleged under-invoicing and for exporting prohibited cuts to China. It is worth remembering that until the end of the year by decree the Government has prohibited the sale of these cuts: roast with or without bone, skirt, matambre, roast cover, buttock, shoulder, and empty. It is part of his policy to believe that he will control the price of meat with this measure.
Meat rose 14.2 last March, according to a survey of the Institute for the Promotion of Argentine Beef (Ipcva). The interannual variation gave 86.5%, 18 percentage points below the 104.3% of the general inflation of the INDEC. In 2022, when meat rose 42.4%, inflation did so by 94.8%.
The operators refer to the obstacles to the selectivity channels, which are the different types of control that the customs service performs on the product to be exported. These can be: green, orange and red. The first case indicates that the documentation and physical control of the merchandise does not correspond. “The interested party will present himself with the application for destination to the customs service, who will verify the declared data and authorize the withdrawal of the merchandise by carrying out a weight and quantity control and identification of the packages”. details the official page of the Afip on this channel.
According to official information, the orange channel means that the customs service performs an examination of the documentation that makes up the declaration of the destination through a verifying agent. Meanwhile, red is that the customs service, through the verifying agents, carries out a documentary and physical control of the merchandise. The first case is an examination of the documentation that makes up the declaration of the destination through the verifying agent. Meanwhile, the physical verification corresponds to the species, quality and quantity of the merchandise.
Taking into account what the red channel implies, in the sector they gave an example: “The companies had the container ready to load on Friday, but the Afip notified them on Wednesday that they had to wait until they received control. Since Thursday and Friday were not, then they could not load and the shipment takes a week or until another ship is found.
In this context, companies have to incur new costs, such as cold, in order to keep the merchandise in condition until approval is received. They are also affected because collection is delayed and they fail to meet the deadlines agreed with customers.
These delays, they assured, occur with the merchandise that is destined for China, which is the main destination in volume for Argentine beef. According to the latest Ipcva report, 39,300 tons were sent there last February, which represented more than 75% of the country’s exports.
If the first two-month period of the year is considered, to that market were 77,019 tons of product weight (considering chilled, frozen and processed meat, bones, but not including giblets). This was a 21% increase in volume compared to the same period in 2022. In value, meanwhile, as prices fell, the first two months left an income of US$246.778 million, a decrease of 20.3% compared to the same period last year. .
On the other hand, actors linked to exports denounced that they also They are having problems because the meat export affidavits that are processed online, and that usually take between two and four days to approve, They are also late. “It is a delay that has no reason; it takes us more than seven days,” they claimed.
