translated from Spanish: Government to rule out meat price hike after Argentine exports suspended

Agriculture Minister Maria Emilia Undurraga said there was a rise in meat prices following Argentina’s announcement to suspend exports for a month in order to avoid a rise in inflation. The Secretary of State stated that this announcement “should not have a greater impact on our domestic meat market, supply or prices, that is because Argentina corresponds to our third meat supplier, with 14%, after Paraguay and Brazil, so those markets are expected to compensate for Argentina’s temporary closure.” These kinds of circumstances show how important it has been for our country to maintain an open international trade strategy with various markets in order to access forestry products, allowing us to quickly qualify for food from those places,” he said. For his part, the president of the Federation of Meat Producers, Carlos González, argued that “there will be no impact on the supply of meat in our country. What’s going to happen here with that 14 percent that’s not going to make it from Argentina? It will be quickly co-eded, both by Brazil and Paraguay, and therefore there will be no shortage problem, that kind of impact is ruled out.” If this were much longer, 30, 60 or 90 days, it will not be missing meat, it will follow the normal supply. Maybe in the long run there may be some slight increase in price, but in the immediate run it’s not going to raise the price of meat or we’re going to have a cut,” he said.

Original source in Spanish