The vaccine meat did not increase in Salta in the last two months, but that did not translate into relief for pockets. Cortes such as rib, vacuum or palette are around 11,000 and 13,000 pesos per kilo in neighborhood butchers and supermarkets, but consumption remains in chopped. The butchers agree that this has to do with the loss of purchasing power. The clientele asks for amount and not by weight: “They tell you I have six thousand pesos and ask for the day,” said the carniceros of the neighborhoods.
Mario Cruz, owner of the La Ternerita butcher shop, on the daily street La Capital de Rosario almost corner Roberto Romero Avenue, explained that for two months prices do not move. “At that time I had risen between 10 and 15 percent and stayed there. The price is being maintained. I suppose it will be because it began to talk about the possibility of bringing the flesh from Brazil, which was much cheaper, there everything stopped. They said that the roast of there was half of what is sold here. In the end that meat did not arrive, and there was livel When the best animals are raised in Argentina, it was not fair. “
The butcher referred to the plan that began to turn, by national officials, about the possibility of importing cuts of meat at a very low cost. The truth is that this is not being seen in this sector of the country, but in the provinces near the border with Brazil. One thing local producers said is that the quality of the meat that would enter Brazil nothing to do with national flesh.
Prices
In Mario’s butcher shop, the kilo of Sobaco is on offer at 9,300 pesos, the soft for Milanese, palette or dike costs 11,000 pesos, and special cuts such as pulp or peceto reach 14,000. The rib also is around 11,000 pesos per kilo, the vacuum is 13,000, while the nalga lid and the roast cover, ideal for locro, remain at 11,000. “That is the most economical within what is soft or roasted meat. It is still an accessible price,” said Cruz, although he acknowledges that it does not translate into more sales.
“People live day to day. They come, but they take the right for lunch or dinner. If there are four people, they tell you ‘give me six thousand pesos’, half a kilite just asked for a kilo and kept for the other day,” he said. Sales fell considerably, and although the price stopped moving, the economic context does not help: “It is no longer normalized as before. At a time remarked, deleted a slate and thus all the time. At least now people already know how much they will pay.”
And he added “On a bad day, between 20 and 25 clients enter and on a good day 35. God and the Virgin want this to improve.”
-Distressed customers
Juan, butcher of the El Tribuno neighborhood, on El Clarín Diario street, coincides with his colleague: two months ago there was a rise between 10 and 20 percent, which meant about 1,500 pesos more per cut, and since then there were no new increases. “I sell the sobaco at 10,000 pesos. Special soft cuts such as the palette or the quadril are in 13,000, and the pulp or the spine between 14,000 and 15,000. I have a common ground meat, without fat, which I sell to 9,000,” he explained.
But the numbers do not reach. “Sales lowered a lot. This has to do with people lost their purchasing power and there are no view to recover it. On a good day I receive between 25 and 30 customers, in a bad one between 15 and 18. I have an average of 22 or 23 people per day. They ask me the cheapest: ground, soft, and depends on the client. Some carry per kilo and ask that you divide it into bags for three days. freezing for months, “he said. Even so, it remains optimistic: “I have faith in which the situation will improve.”
In supermarkets
During a survey in central supermarkets and the southern zone of the capital of Salta, it was found that the kilo of peceto costs 11,999 pesos, the quadrile 14.299, the palette 11,799, the spine in strip 9,999 and the rib 12.799. In a chain butcher shop near the Juan Pablo II neighborhood, the peceto is offered to 12,000 pesos, the skinny picana at 11,200, the special loin ball at 10,700, the pulp and the spine to 13,500, and the palette at 10,700. There are also cuts such as the needle at 6,000 pesos, the special rib at 9,200, the one I posted, the vacuum, the shift and the roast cover at 11,700, and the nalga lid at 10,700.
Faced with these prices, many Salta resort to cheaper options such as the pot, looking for alternatives to perform food at home. “Some customers complain, others are already used, unfortunately. Some are very economically tight and get more distressed if they have many boys. They ask for a common pout to cook but have meat, and I give them,” Mario Cruz said. He added: “What happens is that the light raises, the rent, everything is complicated. God and the Virgin want this to improve.”
While prices are maintained, consumption continues to reflect the pulse of an adjusted economy. In Salta butchers, concern is not only for how much the kilo costs, but for how much it reaches to put meat on the table every day.
Another of the things that can be seen with the large butchers’ chains is that they allow paying purchases of meat in three or up to six payments without interest. This can be a way out for some families.
