MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fearful of inflation Argentina claims consumer corporations are holding back production volumes

Argentina's production ministry in a statement alleged that the firms and others had been “holding back production volumes”

With inflation far from target and increasing consumer prices, Argentina is investigating firms including Danone, Procter & Gamble, Fargo, miller Cañuelas, abattoir Paledini and Unilever, along with food producers like Bunge, accusing them of deliberately holding back production.

Argentina's production ministry in a statement alleged that the firms and others had been “holding back production volumes” and had not abided by a resolution to increase output to the “highest degree of their installed capacity.”

It said an investigation had found shortages in supermarkets of products ranging from cooking oil to diapers and cheese, and said that the firms under investigation must rectify the situation and restore stock levels.

Argentina's populist Peronist leaders have been trying to protect consumers from rising prices and rein in rampant inflation, forecast in a central bank poll to hit 50%this year.

The government of Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has clashed with some businesses and investors over price caps on some goods and the freezing of utilities tariffs.

The production minister Matías Kulfas said that price cap laws aimed to protect consumers from “possible price abuses and guarantee the normal supply of products in supermarkets.”

Recent fears over resurgent inflation sparked tension between Argentina's government and the large farm sector, which were eventually defused after pledges by exporters and producers to help keep domestic prices down with abundant supplies.