:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/lanacionar/OTPDTUGB2ZDJZPF2Q5N2QTIT5E.jpeg "The surprise of beef: in July it was decoupled from the inflation peak")
While headline inflation last month was 7.4%as reported by the indec, the basket of different cuts of beef showed stability, according to a regular report that evaluates behavior in supermarkets and butcher shops. The phenomenon was due to various factors: among them, the hacienda did not have an upward rally and local consumption remains depressed in the context of the population’s loss of purchasing power.
After the stocks to the exports of this product that the Government applied first to 100% and then to 50% last year, today there is a ban on the sale abroad of seven cuts: roast with or without bone, skirt, matambre, tapa roast, buttock, shoulder and vacuum. Beyond this, the behavior of the prices of the basket of products last July actually reflected the influence of the aforementioned factors. The industry, in this context, has been absorbing even other costs not yet transferred to the public.
“The prices of the different cuts of beef showed, on average, stable values, (-0.0%), in July 2022 compared to the month of June”, pointed out the Institute for the Promotion of Argentine Beef (Ipcva) in its report.
This body follows the prices in 80 butcher shops in the Federal Capital and Greater Bunos Aires (GBA) surveyed by telephone. Meanwhile, values in supermarkets are monitored in person at 40 points of sale.
Although the work of the Ipcva mentioned that last July the average of cuts did not rise, against the same month of 2021 it accumulated an increase of 59.6%. It is, however, a percentage lower than the 71% year-on-year variation of inflation.
For Víctor Tonelli, livestock consultant, the stable behavior of the price in last July was because “Livestock prices were flat or down slightly for light consumer categories.” That is to say, the type of farm that has more outlets for the local market. In addition, the purchasing power of the population continues “very deteriorated” and this also impacts local consumption.
The latter could be seen in the dynamics of per capita consumption. According to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Meats (Ciccra), “In July 2022, the twelve-month rolling average of beef consumption per inhabitant was equivalent to 46.9 kg/year, a figure that was 0.3% lower than twelve months ago (-0.1 kg/inhab/ year) and 9.1% lower than July 2019″. Ciccra also gave an account, like the Ipcva, of the performance of prices by indicating in its report that “the prices of beef cuts such as roast, rump and buttocks experienced slight declines compared to June.”
The chamber spoke of “the slight retraction that the value of the standing property had in the last three months.”
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According to Cicra, “In line with more stable farm values and less dynamic demand, in July the average price of a kilo of roast fell 0.5% compared to June, reaching -0.9% in the case of the rump and buttocks. and -0.3% monthly, respectively”. These percentages of decline were also reported by the Indec in its last survey.
Regarding the casualties, For its part, the Icpva revealed a decrease of -0.1% for strip roast, at $1,108.17; -1.7% for the loin ball, at $1,195.39; -1.1% for the square, at $1,206.12, among other products.
Meanwhile, the Ipcva detected an increase of 5.3% for the frozen hamburger by four units. At a lower rate, the roast lid increased 0.6% while the buttock lid increased 0.7%. If other alternative meats are observed, pork breast became more expensive by 7.9% and chicken by 4.3%.
The Ipcva also made an analysis of the prices of beef, differentiating between butcher shops and supermarkets. Stocks rose in the first selling channel and fell in the second. “During the last month of July 2022, prices showed slight increases, of (+0.6%), compared to the previous month in butcher shops, while in supermarkets prices were observed with slight to moderate falls, of ( -1.5%)”, pointed.
On the other hand, performance was evaluated by socioeconomic level. “The prices of beef had slight increases, of (+1%), in July 2022, compared to June, at the points of sale that serve neighborhoods with a high socioeconomic level. In the points of sale that serve the average socioeconomic level, prices remained relatively stable, (+0.0%); while in those that attend to the low socioeconomic level, the prices were reduced slightly, (-0.6%)”.
In this context, it is worth remembering that last week the Ministry of Internal Trade, supermarkets and refrigerators agreed until September 7 the prices for seven products of the “Care Cuts” program in 1000 outlets. The values are: strip of roast, $736; empty, $965; kill, $938; skirt, $483; roast lid, $736; buttock, $1009; and palette, $817.
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