“War against inflation”: a Buenos Aires municipality launched its own milk brand and offers $59 a sachet

Without answers from macroeconomic management, municipalities are exploring alternatives to provide solutions to communities in the face of the surge in inflation. This is the case of the Buenos Aires district of Marcos Paz, which decided to support the marketing of its own brand of milk sachet that is sold for $59 in local stores, a value that is almost half of the majority of the products offered in supermarkets.

Under the brand name “Made in Marcos Paz”, the product was made from local drums and was packaged and marketed by the company Cecilu, a family company with 40 years of experience in the segment. The mayor of the commune, Ricardo Curuchet, described the initiative as a “articulation between the public and private” to “guard the table of families.”

“When the State is present and close, and industry has its commitment to the community. We registered the brand for the municipality,” added the community chief who is part of the neighborhood party Concertación por Marcos Paz, allied to the Frente de Todos.

As specified, the “Leche Marcos Paz” was launched in December 2021, with a value of 52 pesos. Since then, inflationary pressure has led to an increase in sachet prices, although it is still well below average market values.

“It's a very good milk, a good product at a very good price,” said the mayor.

Currently, production is on a scale of 5000 liters per week, which allows it to supply several of the key warehouses in an area where 60,000 inhabitants live, over a large dairy basin. They hope to increase this link in the chain in the short term, as “demand has skyrocketed”. “There are more businesses that want to join in selling the product and we are accompanying that production,” Curuchet said in statements to the press.

The Buenos Aires government and leaders of the Frente de Todos visited the dairy factory, where they supported this project promoted by the Buenos Aires municipality. The tour was attended by the provincial Minister of Finance and Finance, Pablo López, and the former Minister of Social Development and National Deputy, Daniel Arroyo.

“Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises is one of our main objectives,” López said during the visit, confirming the accompaniment of Governor Axel Kicillof. “A great initiative by Marcos Paz: in an agreement with the “Cecilu” factory, they produce Marcos Paz milk, which is sold at very low costs and is in the local gondolas. It's a very good local development project and an early childhood policy,” Arroyo added on his Twitter account.

“We come to learn from what is being done in Marcos Paz. There is great value in the effects these policies have on early childhood. If a child drinks milk and eats well, he will learn well in school and he will have opportunities,” said the national deputy. And he added: “You have to go for this. We have to make eating cheap in Argentina.”

In the municipality of Marcos Paz they admitted that the commercialization of the milk sachet at $59 has a “small return”, but that “nobody loses” with the initiative. And they plan to expand the production to other types of products, such as chocolate milk and vitamin yogurt. “It seeks to extrapolate and grow exponentially, so that the product can be marketed outside the municipality,” said Mayor Curuchet.

The local initiative comes in the midst of the “war on inflation” that the government seeks to wage against price makers. This week, the Ministry of Internal Trade defined that prices of 580 products that registered excessive increases will be rolled back from today to the values in force as of March 10, in accordance with a commitment to large supermarket chains throughout the country. The decision came as a result of talks held between Monday and Tuesday with the United Supermarkets Association (ASU) and the main companies producing mass consumer goods.

Far from being a short-term phenomenon, inflation has remained high for more than a decade, and accelerated during the presidency of Mauricio Macri, installing a floor above 40 points. Alberto Fernández's coming to power did not solve the problem. Since December 2019, fresh milk increased by 87.2%, below other products in the food basket, such as roast, which increased by 217.5%, according to Consultora Sarandí.

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