The chicken importers They’re in difficulties in doing businessbecause four weeks ago they did not obtain new permits from the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) to buy that meat abroad, which motivated Jorge López, director of Abasto Santa Clara, to send a letter to the government on Wednesday requesting a solution, informed The Observer.
“Today we are not being able to comply with our suppliers with the scheduled businessesbecause (the import) was cut off without any explanation,” he said.
According to what he said, he asked Minister Fernando Mattos for an explanation with which they can justify to their suppliers the lack of new purchases.
clear rules
“We ask them to tell us ‘from January 2023 do not buy more’, but not that we cannot bring what we already have negotiated. And that they give it in writing so that we can tell the suppliers: ‘I am not buying from you more for this reason’. We want clear rules because you do a business, you go to the Import Committee for the plant that you closed the business, you think that it follows its normal procedure and from one day to the next they tell you ‘no, we won’t give you more’, he explained.
The MGAP stopped granting new import permits for poultry meat after the producers mobilized to demand against free importation, even after the Coordinator for the Defense of the Poultry Chain (CDCA) to meet with government leaders, also prior to private sector operators and representatives of the Executive Power meeting in San Jacinto, in the framework of an extraordinary assembly convened by the coordinator.
López demanded a response from the government and mentioned that importing companies are not being able to access any permit, even those that “are inside the ministry ready to leave.”
“The consumer pays”
The companies have also discussed the issue at the National Meat Institute (INAC), but the final decisions are made at the MGAP, he stressed.
Recently, the president of the institute, Conrado Ferber, expressed in a press conference: “If we do not facilitate this export work and we do not release imports, we are not giving the consumer the best conditions. Any attempt to close the import is paid by the consumer”.
Another claim from the importing firms is that, despite the fact that the producers asked to return to the quota system for the purchase of Brazilian poultry meat, it was also included in the non-granting of new permits for imports from other destinations, such as the United States or Argentina. .
“They ask for a return to 120 tons per month, which is 1.7% of what chicken is sold in Uruguay. They want that to act as a regulator, but it is ridiculous that they say that, no market moves by 1.7% “added the businessman.
