Secretary of Commerce yesterday Matias Tombolini, held a 45-minute meeting with the Union of Kioskeros of the Argentine Republic (UKRA). The reason was the lack of figurines, facing the Quatar World Cup 2022. A conflict that has the company as protagonists paniniaccused by the union and the chamber that brings together newspaper and magazine vendors, of engaging in potential monopolistic conduct, violating the competition defense law, and using non-traditional channels to distribute the product.
“We see that they are delivering in supermarkets, in service stations, to applications, to chain kiosks,” said the UKRA delegate, Ernesto Acuna last month. The figurine market represents 23 billion pesos between September and December and has national coverage. The meeting had the objective of listening to the parties and trying to build a dialogue that prevents a repetition of the march that the union made to Panini at the end of August.
“There are one hundred thousand kiosks and a single manufacturer, which generates asymmetries in a market where there is excess demand these days,” said an official source, who also revealed that an agreement was reached that involves increasing production by more of 30% in the next 15 days, and the commitment to add an institutional distribution channel that makes it easier for newsstands to access the product, adding control mechanisms to distributors by the company.
The conflict had its replica in networks, where users questioned that the government deals with “minor” issues in relation to the economic crisis. “My God guys, solutions of what? It is a marketing campaign. The business of the company is that everyone fills the album just before the World Cup ends. wrote the radical deputy Martin Tetaz On twitter.
My god guys, solutions of what? it is a marketing campaign. The business of the company is that everyone fills the album just before the end of the World Cup. https://t.co/bptqrShaUx
— Martin Tetaz (@martintetaz) September 20, 2022
From the UKRA they attacked the criticism: “The State took charge, called for dialogue. We value that. It was not like that with the previous government, which did not do it when we had 28 thousand broken kiosks”, they declared from the union. Likewise, they encouraged state intervention in the conflict. “We celebrate and encourage the State to be present, convening companies and newsstands. There is a national shortage. Millions of pesos are circulating in the country and the monopolies are taking it,” said the vice president of the Kiosqueros Union, Nestor Palacios.
From the Secretary of Commerce they highlighted that in addition to that meeting there were other with textiles and coffee entrepreneurs, for anti-dumping measures, and with mass consumption companies for careful prices, in addition to receiving the production team of the Buenos Aires minister Augusto Costa. And that the negotiations with laboratory chambers for the ones prices are below inflation.
by RN
