The General Directorate of Customs of the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) published in the last hours Resolution 4819/20 that contains reference values ​​of 'corvina' yellow croaker (Micropogonias fournieri), which generated discomfort among industrialists of exporting refrigerators attached to Cafrexport because they contain values ​​that are very above those that the market pays today.

 

In Mar del Plata, companies such as Ardapez, Pesquera Universal, Traweluwn, MIA, Isla de los Estados, Cooperativa Nuevo Rumbo and La Nueva Arhehpez export, which generate more than 400 jobs in the classification, packaging and freezing.

 

The products listed in the Annex include whole or gutted croaker, between 100 and 300 grams, except ready bread, in packages of less than 1 kilo, with a FOB value of $ 1.05. Whole or gutted, between 300 and 500 grams, in a container of the same weight, $ 1.15. The one from 500 grams to 1 kilo, 1.34 dollars. For meager over one kilo, the FOB value is $ 1.30 per kilo.

 

 

According to industrial exporters, the current croaker market does not reflect those prices. They assure that they are between 200 and 300 dollars below the ton. The talks with the Customs authorities to adjust the values ​​and the exchange of information began months ago.

 

The values ​​were determined by the Directorate of Valuation and Documentary Verification of the same Customs, based on internal and external sources of information provided for in Article 2 of General Resolution 4710. They will become effective as of the day after their publication in the Official bulletin.

 

According to the considerations that gave the resolution framework, the control of the declarations made by the AFIP is aimed at perfecting the selectivity system in terms of value, in order to detect deviations from the usual values ​​for identical or similar goods.

 

 

These reference values ​​apply to countries such as Canada and the United States, but those that mainly affect croaker are the African ones. Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Angola, Ghana, Gabon, among the main ones, although the list is much broader and includes China, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.

 

Once the resolution was known, the industrial exporters adhering to Cafrexport let their anger over the measure transcend. "Today not only did the business end, but all of us who exported croaker to Africa were left without work," said Adrián Ganín, from Traweluwn.

 

The Chamber was polishing a note addressed to the Director of Customs, Silvia Brunilda Traverso, which would contain the sale values ​​of exports to try to suspend it until they are corrected.

 

According to the latest business report that marks the evolution of exports to the month of July, the average price of croaker stood at 1,258 dollars, which compared to the same period of the previous year represented a decrease of 6.8% . 2,157 tons were exported that month, 5.2% less than in July 2019.

 

Industrialists assure that the collapse in prices and slowdown in sales has not yet been reflected in the official statistics since it occurred in the last weeks of August and the first days of September.

 

The reference price that generated the most rejection was that of whole or gutted corvina weighing more than one kilo, except for ready bread (without tail, head or viscera), which was set at $ 1,500.

 

“The biggest croakers have no orders. We have hundreds of tons on camera because nobody wants them and to sell we have to give up a lot of price, which is completely far from the 1,500 dollars per ton that they put. In Uruguay they are selling it for $ 900”, Ganín stressed.

 

 

 

(Article has been translated from original in Spanish)