Of the 19 regional economies it monitors Coninagro monthly there were four activities in red, six in yellow and nine in green, where the the drop in the price of potatoes, the lower consumption of beef and an abrupt decline in the values of vegetables.
The entity is responsible for publishing this tool so that the agricultural producer can monitor the indicators in order to analyze the sectors that rise and fall.
“The April traffic light shows several changes compared to the last study: Activities related to fibers, such as cotton and wool, and also the pig sector improved only slightly, helped by the increase in beef prices. Mainly the biggest drops were in potatoes, poultry and beef, citrus fruits, vegetables, and pears and apples due to the rise in costs and the decrease in prices ”, highlights the report.
In addition, he explains that prices showed a “great deceleration” compared to March, but nevertheless mostly exceeded general inflation. Meanwhile, the traffic light raises a yellow alert for sweet citrus fruits, pears and apples, and dairy, activities affected by the increase in costs and falling prices.
Regarding the markets, the entity’s economic specialists explained that thanks to the rise in international prices for grains, more than half of the productions showed improvements compared to last year in their exports, while the rest of the activities they suffered from lack of consumption and demand.
Meanwhile, they highlighted that fruits, beans, poultry, tobacco, vegetables, honey, rice, sugar, olive complex, infusions, chickpeas and non-traditional meats together generated last year, a total of almost 3 billion dollars in exports.
The potato market
The paper sector reflects falling prices and does not register export activity. In this sense, Mario Raiteri, Coninagro leader and vice president of the National Potato Federation, explained that this year the same area was planted as last season, and that the growth of the tuber was accompanied by “a very good climate” in the different national productive regions.
“There is a significant supply of potatoes destined for the domestic market, with sustained demand, but not enough to maintain the high prices that the yield-price equation needs to be positive for the producer,” he explained.
But nevertheless, he clarified that The pandemic affected the industry, which is the main demand for the national paper sector. “Export contracts have been dropped and that production abruptly turned over to the domestic market, producing a negative consequence in the price to recover the investment by producers to carry out a new planting,” explained Raiteri.