ALERT. Government seeks to curb price increases in footwear and clothing
The highest authorities of the Ministry of Economy, Productive Development and Industry, met to review concrete actions on the onslaught of prices, to ensure balance for 2022.
"The sectoral policy must balance the objectives of adding national value, promoting job creation and containing internal prices. Therefore, lines of actions were reviewed to ensure these balances in 2022", they indicated in an official statement.
From the Ministry of Economy, no details or conclusions of the meeting were added, as well as possible measures or possible actions to be implemented to stop the dynamics in the rise in prices, which was evident in the days before Christmas 2021.
From industrial sources, they affirmed that the increases in prices are a consequence of the increases in the costs of raw materials, freight and the depreciation of the peso that affects the value of the products.
For their part, from consumer protection entities, they warned that manufacturers take advantage of the closure of imports to mark up prices. Thus, they use the restrictions to increase profit margins.
The report prepared by the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (IARAF) points out that the footwear and clothing sector in Argentina is the one that increased its prices the most compared to 42 countries.
In quantitative terms, the increase was 139.4% between the month of November 2019 and the same month during 2021, compared to an increase of 94% in the general level, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
From Fundación Proteger, they acknowledge that after "five years of crisis and financial fragility, and in the face of a better macroeconomic context and better expectations for the future, companies began to rebound economically".
Among other justifications, footwear and textile manufacturers maintain that although prices now exceed inflation, during 2016 and 2021 they increased well below it.
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