The Argentine Chamber of the Sausage and Related Industry (Caicha) warned that “it is necessary and essential” to relax the latest measures of the Central Bank (BCRA) that restrict imports because companies may have to “stop some production lines” . He explained that national production is not enough to supply the industry and that there are basic inputs for production that are not manufactured in the country.

In this context, in the activity they blamed primary production of having “applied a 20% increase in the price of pork for next week”what they indicated “It would have a strong impact on meat at the counter and on processed products”. However, this was denied by the productive sector, where they said that “it increased 6% in recent weeks after being a long time without rising.”

In dialogue with THE NATION, Martín de Gyldenfeldt, manager of Caicha, pointed out that BCRA regulation 7532 passed to non-automatic licenses with 180-day payment for pork cuts, which are raw material for making cured and salted products. For the industry that means “the closure of imports.”

As detailed, in the industry they work with national production, but they complete their needs with some specific products from Brazil, mainly the pulp of ham, shoulder, bacon, bondiola and bacon. It is raw material for the local sausage industry.

“Without this import due to volume issues, local production is not enough to supply the sausage industry”he indicated and added: “Last year 134,000 more capons per week should have been slaughtered to replace the importation of these pulps.”

Faced with this scenario, he stated: “As primary production knows this, given the closure of imports in a completely speculative way increased prices by 19 to 20% and this is going to be replicated in an increase of at least 40% in pork at the counter and in prices around 10% of sausages.

According to the manager, last June the average value of capon was $197 per kilo, but with the increase that the industry claims to have detected, it would rise to $235. The industry said it is in contact with the Ministry of Agriculture. “They understand the problem, but they tell us that they are not directly related to the authorizations to import, something that is true, it is a matter of the Central Bank, to which we also sent a letter, as well as the Ministry of Productive Development”, specified the executive.

“In order not to generate more inflation, we need to return to the previous situation of imports for these pork cuts that enter processing, which we add value to,” he remarked. He emphasized that the cuts that matter are “ready to brew.”

For the manager of Caicha, Due to the new rules of the Central Bank, the sausage industry could face a critical scenario in the coming months due to restrictions on imports of more than 25 inputs that are basic and are not manufactured in the country. Among others, carrageenan, nitrites, nitrates, collagen types, stuffing primers. “If this ban is maintained over time, the industry will begin to stop production lines,” he warned.

Gyldenfeldt explained that, for example, there are pig slaughterhouses that already have little pepsin left, an enzyme that is used to test for trichinosis. “There are fundamental things that the Central Bank, the Ministry of Productive Development and the Ministry of Agriculture have to understand, if they are not going to stop the work and the sources of work are at stake,” he specified.

The director of the chamber pointed out that imports came in a monthly average of 4,000 tons between January and last May. Meanwhile, the consultant Juan Luis Uccelli recently pointed out that the first half of 2022 imported 75.3% more than the half of 2021 in pork products.

Uccelli denied a strong increase in pork. He maintained that in six and a half months that was 16.5%. Meanwhile, it rose “6% in recent weeks after being a long time without rising.” He added: “The price of pork is set by beef, which is its ceiling.” Otherwise, he commented, “No one buys it.”