Almost a month after the price of rice rose and the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Eduardo Izaguirre, announced that rice would be imported from Colombia, Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay as a measure to ensure the country’s food sovereignty in the face of possible shortages of grass due to the weather, this basic product of baskets has now fallen in both markets and supermarket chains.
Last month, 5 kilograms of rice on supermarket shelves cost between $9.47 and $9.60, while this week’s prices are between $8.45 and $8.82. 2 kilograms are sold at $3.55, while a few weeks ago they were trading at $3.89.
The manufacturing sector opposes the import of rice announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Industrialists calculate volume per order
In the Guayaquil markets, a 25-pound bag of weed sold for $12.50 or between $14 and $15, and now those same pounds fetch $11, $12, or $13.50, depending on the market.
The price is falling even though the announced import of 30,000 tons of rice was not realized. At first, it was thought to bring it from Colombia, but the price has increased in that country as well. The industry believes the import announcement helped control the rise.
For Juan Pablo Zúñiga, president of the Corporation of Rice Industrialists of Ecuador (Corpcom), Ecuador is facing a lack of supply this year, as with many products, due to the very strong winter situation they had “in the first half of the year; and it will be worse, predicting what can happen with the El Niño phenomenon now, in the second half of this year, and that it can leave consequences even at the beginning of 2024.
Together with other agro-production sectors, efforts are being made to take preventive measures so that shortages and shortages do not occur on the market. “The idea of importing rice is to achieve a balance on the market and not to continue the increase in prices that could be seen in the first three weeks of June, and which has been controlled today. experienced. with the announcement of imports and that there may be a leveling of the situation in terms of prices”, indicates Zúñiga.
On the other hand, the price of sugar is moving up because of the problems the mills are having to harvest the cane, also because of the rains. In this sector, purchases from neighbors were used to maintain internal supply. Valdez imported white sugar from Colombia and Peru, with the approval and coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), and solely to cover the deficit.
Reduction in sugar supply in some supermarkets contributes to the delay of the start of the harvest in 2023, prices have not increased
Last month, a kilogram of sugar from San Carlos, for example, was sold in supermarket chains from 0.81 to 0.98 dollars; and 2 kilograms for 2 USD. Now a kilogram sells for between $1.07 and $1.12; and 2 kilograms at $2.13.
In a supermarket in the center of the southern part of the city of Guayaquil, only this brand was displayed on hangers.
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A client of a supermarket chain comments that before she runs out of sugar for her home, she prefers to take it in quantity, because later the price will increase, because “the rains affect everything, they can’t cut the cane and that caused the price increase and shortages.
Price list of various products in the supermarket chain from July 11, 2023:
Rice
Sugar
Oil
Source: Eluniverso
Alia is a professional author and journalist, working at 247 news agency. She writes on various topics from economy news to general interest pieces, providing readers with relevant and informative content. With years of experience, she brings a unique perspective and in-depth analysis to her work.
