Food prices would rise in the next few days due to strike in the Lima Wholesale Market

With information from URPI LR

The merchants of the Great Wholesale Market of Lima (GMML) began a 48-hour strike at 0:00 today until July 16 due to the increase in rates for the entry of vehicles with merchandise. This situation will generate an increase in the price of basic products in the retail markets of Lima, according to Andrés Palomino Loayza, merchant of the garlic business.

“Those who are going to be affected by all this are the housewives directly because they are going to have to increase prices,” he said.

Faced with this scenario, to ensure the supply of food to retail markets, from the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (midagri) pointed out that Food trucks, knowing in advance of the Santa Anita strike, are going directly to busier retail markets like Caquetá, Unicachi, Promised Land, Huamantanga and La Parada.

Reasons for the protests

For his part, Pedro Orellana, representative of the GMML merchants, pointed out that the main reason for the protest is the significant increase in prices, which has reached up to 100%. He mentions that increases in the tolls for entering and leaving the market have been implemented, which affects both farmers and final consumers.

According to Orellana, small vehicles used to pay one sol to enter, but now it has increased to S/2, that is, an increase of 100%. On the other hand, cargo vehicles that transport products pay S/7 per ton to enter, which implied an expense of S/210 for a 30-ton truck.

“Now, to get out, they also want to record the buyers who come to buy, both for the district markets and for the provinces, 7 soles per ton. So, this is going to harm both the farmer and the final consumer tremendously,” he told La Republic.