Argentina Charges Large Companies Over Supply Shortages

Argentinian authorities have charged several large companies for causing supply shortages by retaining their production or delaying the delivery of massively purchased products.

RELATED:

Climate Change Affects Argentina's Main Export Waterway

"The accusations were made after verifying that these companies failed to comply with the notice to increase production to the highest level of their installed capacity and to arbitrate means at their disposal to ensure transportation and distribution to satisfy demand, established by resolution 100/2020," the Undersecretary of Actions for the Defense of Consumers said in a statement.

The decision aims to tackle a spike in food and hygiene products' prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This increment in prices is the main problem that Argentine society has to face today in economic matters," the  Minister of Social Development Daniel Arroyo said on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Domestic Trade charged the companies Mastellone, Fargo, AGD, Danone, Molinos Cañuelas, Bunge, Molinos Río de la Plata, Unilever, P&G, Paladini, and Potigan.

The report found that these companies were significantly decreasing their production.
For instance, "the multinational company Unilever, which manufactures food, cleaning supplies, and personal hygiene, had a fall of almost 100% in its inventory of dressings," the statement highlights.

Moreover, P&G reduced the dispatch of diapers and detergents. The agribusiness enterprise Bunge dropped "its dispatch of packaged oils and a negative variation in flour stocks," among other irregularities.

The Argentine government is fighting inflation of food prices, which is heading towards a 3.5 percent increment by the end of February. The authorities announced a meeting with price trainers in the food sector next week while reinforcing the legal framework to tackle inflation.