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Despite the recent high rice prices, The president of Paulista Association of Supermarkets (Apas), Ronaldo dos Santos, said that the cost of the raw material has not yet been fully transferred to the consumer. “On average, you can still find first-line rice (5 kilos) between R $ 18 and R $ 23 in the markets. But if the bag of husked rice (from the producer) stays at R $ 100 for one or two more months, it will reach more than R $ 30 for the consumer as stocks are renewed ”.
In January, the bag cost less than R $ 50, according to data from the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea) gives University of São Paulo (USP).
Santos participated this Thursday 10 in a meeting promoted by the Procon-SP with representatives from supermarkets, industry and production to discuss food prices. There was consensus that the price increase was due to the current economic scenario, with domestic demand heated by the pandemic and international demand stimulated by the devaluation of the real against the dollar. However, Procon will inspect the establishments and, in the event of abusive prices, will charge the store up to R $ 10 million.
Santos does not see, for the moment, the risk of the shelves running out. “Even because the the government released the importation without the tax.“But he also doesn’t see a drop in prices in the very short term. “As it was a market situation that generated an increase in prices, so there is a reduction in the short term is difficult. What we see in the sector is: the higher the price, the lower the consumption. With a reduced consumption, it can help to reduce the price ”.
A week ago, President Jair Bolsonaro called on supermarket owners to have “patriotism” and lower prices. But in general trading, as Santos explained, there is what in jargon is known as “price sensitivity.” “That product that weighs more and is more important, the entrepreneur is attentive to the price of this product so as not to scare the consumer. The profit margins are smaller so as not to scare the consumer, otherwise the corner store cannot charge the same (high) price. It is the fight of the day to day “.
He believes that when the next crop is harvested, in February 2021, the price of rice may go down. But until then, the market is also dependent on other external factors.
Surveillance
Procon-SP is visiting supermarkets and Atacarejos to identify possible unjustified increases in the prices of the products. If the trade identifies an increase without justification, the companies will respond to an administrative procedure and may be fined up to R $ 10,155,730.94, depending on the economic size and the seriousness of the infraction.
The operation, which will continue in the next few days in the capital and interior of the state, focuses on: rice (5 kg package), beans, eggs, oil and red meat (duckling, mole de coxão, hard coxão and contrafilé).
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