(CNN Spanish) — For the first time since 2018, yerba mate sales in Argentina fell 30% in March. According to the monthly report disseminated by the non-governmental organization National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM), during that month the purchases of the commercial chain from yerba producers (that is, the mill output) were among the lowest of the last years.
According to the INYM, the volume of yerba mate produced at the mill output was 18,792,347 kilograms, a number slightly lower than the 18,845,308 kilos in February 2020, one of the lowest in recent times.
In the country where an average of 6.4 kg is consumed per inhabitant per year and yerba mate is present in more than 90% of homes, this data worries the sector.
Furthermore, it contrasts with another striking trend: after a sharp rise in prices in the first quarter of the year, a drop in costs is beginning to be seen in supermarkets and warehouses, according to Nelson Dalcolmo, director of the INYM, representing of the productive sector.
“We know that consumer prices have been reduced by up to 25% in recent times,” says Dalcolmo. This panorama is confirmed in Argentine shelves: offers in different presentations of yerba and promotions to take two packages and pay for one.
However, Dalcolmo does not associate the decrease in the purchase of grinding with a decrease in consumption, and explains it with another variable.
“The commercial chains had stocked up starting in November and December of last year, fearing or knowing that there was a forecast of a very large rise in the dollar. What we are going through now is a time of falling sales from millers to the chains,” he clarifies.
Yerba mate before being ground for consumption at the Colonia Liebig Agricultural Cooperative in Corrientes, Argentina, on February 23, 2022. (Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images)
He explains that it is more difficult to see a drop in final consumption because “yerba mate is a product with inelastic demand”, that is, regardless of the price, Argentines are not going to stop consuming it.
This information contrasts with what was given to CNN by a source with knowledge of the subject in a wholesale supermarket. In that instance and according to the source, the purchase of yerba mate in this type of stores dropped between 25% and 30% in the last four months.
From the Institute, they also explain that 90% of the weed produced in the country is consumed in Argentina, and for this reason they view with concern the March sales data, but also the opening to imports from other countries.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, had already warned this in March of this year when he announced the opening of imports for some mass consumption products.
“It is a way to force competition and protect the consumer. People are making an effort and if prices do not reflect a more reasonable level, it is not good,” he commented then.
The representative of the sector asks the government of President Javier Milei to have greater control with these imports.
“The truth is that it is a great concern for the sector (…) That they give us a hand with their organizations to try, not to prevent, but to help us control the material that enters from abroad,” adds Dalcomo.
