The price of food: in February, producers received $1 for every $3.10 paid by consumers

During the month of February, according to a report by the Regional Economies Sector of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME). This means that for every 3.1 pesos paid by the buyer, the farmer or herder received only 1 dollar.

As the business entity explains, “the combination of drought with heat wave and some late frosts It damaged production in the harvesting areas”, to which was added the current heat wave which “burned green leafy vegetables and damaged the fruits, causing a sharp drop in supply and a surge in prices of origin “. Only the decline in purchasing power prevented these costs “from being fully transferred to the gondola”.

In this way the Origin and destination price index (IPOD) prepared by CAME showed that producer participation explained 33.6% of final sale prices. In this sense, the largest stake was held by the producers of pepper with 88.5% in the final price, due to high temperatures that scorched green leafy vegetables and caused a spike in original prices, while the lowest was for those of mandarinwith 13.8%.

Thus, and IPOD frutihortícola reported that from field to shelf, the prices of the 19 fruits and vegetables that make up the basket analyzed by CAME increased 3.9 times in February, for which the consumer paid 3.9 dollars for every dollar that fruits and vegetables the vegetable producer received, while the livestock IPOD, which measures the price of different meats, milk and eggs, charged the consumer 2.9 times more than what the producer received.

The biggest differences

According to the study, the gap between what the producer charges and what the consumer pays tangerines was 7.2 times, while that of the Red Apple was 6.4, the lemon 5.7, the SHE 5.3 and the chard 5.1, these being the products with the greatest difference between origin and destination prices.

“The mandarin was the product with the greatest gap between producer and consumer. Prices only changed at one end of the chain: the consumer. While there was no increase in origin, this citrus saw a monthly shelf increase of 34%. The heat generates irreversible damage to the fruit, so the combination of drought and high temperatures in production areas, such as Entre Ríos, has caused a sharp drop in supply,” the report explains.

On the other hand, the prices of lemona citrus fruit which also suffered the ravages of bad weather, recorded a rise of 17.1% in prices to producers and 11% to consumers, while another of the fruits which presented a large difference in price from the field to the gondola , was the Red Applewith a monthly increase of 41% at origin – new harvest season and prices for 2023 – and a decrease of 9% at destination.

As for vegetables, garlic recorded a 14.3% drop in producer prices, due to the high supply in February and March, and did not register variations on the shelf, while that the price of Swiss chard increased by 6% at origin and by 43% at destination. , due to recurring droughts and high temperatures that have scorched green leafy vegetables, especially in the green belts of La Plata and Santa Fe, the entity noted.

The smallest deviations

Among the products that presented the smallest difference between the price received by the producer and that paid by the consumer, we find 2 products of animal origin and 3 horticultural products. For example, in the case of peppers, it is replicated only 1.1 times, which meant “the smallest spread of the month”, since if the producer prices increased by 70.1%, the consumer prices fell by 24%.

On the other hand, the prices of lettuce were multiplied by 1.4 and the broccoli 1.9 and recorded an increase at origin of 93.5% and 76.1%, respectively, “due to high temperatures that scorched green leafy vegetables”, while at destination they decreased 2.5% in the first case and increased by 12.5% ​​in the second.

With regard to the small variation in the field of livestock products and by-products, the eggs and chickenIn general, they have integrated production systems, which means that all actors in their respective value chains are part of the business risk. Thus, “while eggs increased by 30.4% at origin and 16.5% at destination, chicken prices increased by 48.3% at the producer and 7.5% at the consumer”.

“Effect of the advance of the Avian Flu in the region, prices began to skyrocket before they arrived in the country. At present, and having effectively affected local poultry farming, producers are concerned about a possible production crisis that could arise if the disease is not controlled,” the book concludes.

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