Frommild
to moderate
Market is resenting the higher prices, with a stronger impact upon elaborate
products, which have been gaining momentum at the dinner table
If a meteorologist, always ready to forecast
the weather conditions for the everyday life of
the farmers, could analyze the intensity of the
wind at the sales of vegetable products, he/she
could refer to it asmild tomoderate. It does not
mean that no turbulences have occurred. Price
hikes, brought about by adverse climate condi-
tions,alongwithaweakenedpurchasingpower
of the population resulting from the economic
downturn, is reflecting on consumption. There
is a downtrend in demand, which was particu-
larly true during the entire year of 2015.
The sales of horticultural products at the
supply centers (Ceasas), which operate in 63
different locations in the Country and account
forthebiggestportionofthesector’ssales,were
down 2.1% from 2014. However, transactions
values went up 4.6%, fromdata released by the
NationalFoodSupplyAgency(Conab),through
the Program for Modernizing the Horticulture
Market (Prohort). Climate questions, irrigation
restrictions and soaring input costs, according
to a justification by the organ, interfered with
supply and pushed prices up.
Carlos Cogo, agribusiness consultant,
likewise, in 2015, observed a reduction in
per capita consumption of five products of
the sector, products he keeps a close watch
on. The numbers surveyed are smaller for
potatoes (from 20.9 kg to 20.7 kg), tomatoes
(22.3 kg to 18.9 kg) and onions (9.7 kg to
8.6 kg), whilst remaining similar for carrots
(from 4.1 kg to 4.2 kg) and garlic (0.8 kg).
His explanation is likewise linked to adverse
weather conditions, resulting into supply and
price problems, where the exchanged rate is
equally believed to have had a say, besides
the need for bigger imports, and the influ-
ence from the soaring unemployment rates.
For 2016, he foresees a slight recovery in to-
matoes andonions, on the grounds of “Climate
andproduction improvement projections, with
prices receding throughout the year”. Anyway,
Cogo has it that there is every indication that
the trend of the previous year will hold, with in-
flation exerting a stronger impact upon prod-
ucts of higher added value (packaged, pro-
cessed,frozen)andmigrationtosimilarcheaper
Volume traded at the Ceasas
(supply centers) in 2015was down 2.1%
Inor Ag. Assmann
20
