Happy 200 Argentina!

If you were celebratin´ this weekend and yesterday ...don´t worry.  25 de Mayo was the last day of about a week of revolution ...the Revolución de Mayo.

Today is not Argentine Independence Day; that´s 9 de Julio.  But it´s ok to date Argentina from the 25th of May, 1810.

The holiday is kinda like Cinco de Mayo except that it´s a real national holiday here.

Both the 25th and the 5th commemorate the day when independence became inevitable.

After the Revolución de Mayo, it was all over but the shoutin´.

So happy birthday, Argentina ...and the beginning of the death of colonialism in all of Latin America!*
(* certain exceptions apply.)

Brazilian Chicken Trips-up Argentina´s Imported Food Ban

La Nacion has a great article today detailing how our trading partner to the north has put the kibosh on Argentina´s ban of imported food that has a domestically produced counterpart.

Interior Commerce Minister Moreno opened the border yesterday to six truckloads of Brazilian chicken which had been held up for several days waiting for permission from the Argentine health ministry.

I don´t know if the chicken was fresh, frozen, or canned ...but I´m not going to be buying any in the supermarket for a few weeks!

The timing of the decision to allow the stranded trucks was interesting.  It seemed to be simutaneous with President Kirchner´s remarks to a joint meeting of the EU and Mercosur in which she denied that Argentina restricted imports in any way.


Brazil is the largest source of imported food in Argentina and is a Mercosur trading partner.

Although Argentina runs an enormous trade surplus regarding food exports to the world, Moreno told an angry Brazilian trade delegation that "the objective of the Kirchner administration is to reduce food imports by U$300 million from a current estimated total of U$ 1 billion.

The Brazilian Minister of Development and Trade, Miguel Jorge, warned last week that his country could take reprisals against Argentina in the matter.

Imported Food Update

Ya know, it wasn´t too very long ago that the Buenos Aires Herald had ZERO web presence.  Nowadays, however, their website is indispensable to any angloparlante living in Argentina.

They are all over the imported food story, too!

If you didn´t check their latest reportage ...dig it here.

Planeta Joy!

Practice yer castellano ...and groove to the comments on 10 imported foods that are about to be Banned en Baires!

Insane Beef Prices in Argentina

Nations have their "birth rights."  For we yanquis, it´s the cheap and plentiful gasoline that allow our stateside brethren to maintain the dream.  For argentinos, it´s the best beef on earth at the lowest prices.  If you start to mess with that, you´d better be ready to duck.

Al Jazeera (is that the world´s best news network,or what?) kicked-off the month with this tremendous video which mentions how the price of asado de tiro (beef ribs cut against the grain) had already zoomed from 15 pesos to 26 pesos.

Today, that cattleman´s bible, Meat Trade News Daily reports via mla.com how the government and the meatpackers here in Buenos Aires are trying to deal with beef prices that begger the word "runaway."

Since Al Jazeera´s video, prices for cattle on the hoof have risen 50% from their already long-time highs.

"(Secretary Moreno) this week announced an agreement with a group of meatpackers to allow 25,000 tonnes cwt of beef exports each month. According to the deal, processors consented to sell 13 highly demanded cuts on the domestic market, at low prices set by the Secretary (according to Clarín). Other export companies may join this arrangement, as long as they sell the products at the suggested prices. The agreed export volume is around half the average monthly beef exports last year."

With supermarkets under pressure to maintain price controls ...and the meatpackers who supply them under pressure with the skyrocketing prices for cattle at auction ...something has to give.  In this case, it was the domestic commerce secretary that tossed the meatpackers a bone.

Since beef exports are more lucrative than local controlled prices, allowing the meatpackers to export a little in exchange for a promise from them not to hike prices to the supermarkets could help keep the price of asado down for awhile.

The relief, if any, however, will only be temporary breathing space for the ministery.  Prices for cattle at auction have already tripled from the long-time rate of 3 pesos a kilo ...to 9 pesos.

All that ...and no end in sight.  Auction prices could quadruple (to 12 pesos) before the end of the month.

Imported foods we would have missed

Lots of news out of Buenos Aires yesterday and today regarding the truly mysterious move by Interior Secretary of Commerce Moreno to ban imports of processed food to Argentina if there already exists here a local equivalent.

The Wall Street Journal kicked it off with a subscription only blurb regarding the measure and La Nacion explored what I've been wondering about: how our Mercosur trading partner, Brazil, might react to the ban.

It seems that Ivan Ramalho, the Brazilian minister for economic development was passing through town and read about the ban in the local press.  When he asked his Argentine counterpart about the measure, he was told "that's not my department but I'll get back to you."

Later on that day, after Argentine minister of the economy Amado Boudou got word of the Brazilian's concerns, it was up to him to respond to the ban.  Boudou's defense was lukewarm.  While defending current government policies that nurture domestic industries, he made reference to "naive" policies that have destroyed jobs and industry here in decades past.

In a report today, The Buenos Aires Herald scores a coup by actually obtaining a letter from the usually discrete Moreno who prefers to conduct things by telephone.  The letter addressed to the Argentine equivalent of the FDA talks about how to use that agencies approval process to keep the imported foods out of the country and how the two ministers will work to develop a list of foods.

The Herald confirms the June 1st start date.

Finally comes a great blog post from The Financial Times about the hoo hah.  In it, their Buenos Aires correspondent Jude Webber proffered another reason for the ban: imports in general spiked by 52% compared to last March and 33% for this year's first quarter.  He says that the ban on imported food could more likely be an attempt to help that ...rather than the fear of a falling euro.  Webber ends with, "For now, it looks like another incomprehensible battle Argentina could easily have avoided."

Oops!  It might be OVER!  The Buenos Aires Herald does it again with a report from Córdoba 40 minutes ago in which "Production Minister Débora Giorgi said that food imports demanded by the markets will be available and clarified that Argentina follows the norms of the World Commerce Organization."

The Herald goes on to say that Giorgi stated that, "everything that the market demands in terms of imported food products will be available in this country."

Standby for more!

What little joy has long gone.

"What little joy there was in this country has long gone...I will be leaving asap....can't wait!!!
Yes, I love tango but I can come here on holiday....I won't have to put up with the day to day bul%shi! that drains one's lifeblood and soul."

Now, like a lot of people, I think that Italian pasta is incomparable ...but I'm fairly shocked by some of the responses to my last post ...and some comments to the article in The Argentine Post of the same day ...and, of course, the above quote could ONLY come from baexpats.com!

To be fair, I have to remind myself that when you mess with even a gentle animal's food ...you'd better prepare for a primitive response.  When you start screwing with an expat's favorite comfort food... well, guarda!

Being a foodie, myself, I'm surprised that none of the comments have suggested that we take quite a few of these matters into our own hands here in Buenos Aires.

I placed an order today for organic habanero pepper seeds and, although I'll have to wait for spring and summer, I'll most likely produce enough tremendous hot sauce à la Melinda's or Marie Sharp to keep a Mexican army brigade happy ...but I'll probably end up eating it all myself due to lack of interest.  My buddies Dave and Jamye have been schtuping for organic cucumbers with which to manufacture Dave's killer deli pickles.  My buddy, Fred B., is fired-up to take advantage of the protectionism so that he can produce jamón serrano to rival the Spanish!

That's probably due to an immigrant attitude as opposed to an expat attitude ...but expat support could get things like those off-the-ground.  Frank of Sugar & Spice, for example, is going to keep expats, argentinos ...and even some Europeans ...in good shape with his supreme cookies and savories.

Only about 3% of all groceries in Argentina are imported ...but 3% of the Argentine market would keep a fella sittin' pretty not to mention the Argentines that would be very interested in a world-class product that is made here.

My prediction is that Moreno's measures will fizzle.  But I'm not gonna bet the farm on it.

No More Imported Food

"Brazilian hearts of palm, yes.  Spanish ham, no." That's the new slogan of Guillermo Moreno, the Argentine Interior Secretary of Commerce, according to today's La Nacion.  Recently, Moreno has been contacting major supermarket chains in Buenos Aires informing them of his decision to prevent the entry of imported foods that have an Argentine domestic equivalent.

Moreno seems to be very clear that this new policy will be in effect June 1.

Italian pasta?  Sorry, eat fideos.  French cheese?  Nope, we make that here.  German beer?  Get real; Quilmes!  Spanish olive oil?  No dice.  Swiss chocolates?  Talk to Ricardo Fort.

I hope he doesn't think that Argentine hot peppers are the equivalent of anything!

As usual, Moreno won't put it in writing, just over the phone.  To make sure that it happens, he says that he will use the Argentine FDA (Anmat) to impound the imported food items on his list.  Moreno doesn't have any authority over Anmat ...but that hasn't stopped him in the past from giving other agencies orders.

The La Nacion article goes on to say that the situation first raised its ugly head when major chains had difficulty bringing in canned and frozen corn from Brazil, a Mercosur partner.  Although Argentina doesn't produce enough sweet corn to meet internal demand, the big supermercados were told that was their tough luck.

Moreno blamed the weakening euro and the burgeoning economic crisis in Greece, Spain, and Italy.  He said that Argentina could be swamped with cheap imported food from those countries.

Supermarkets warned that the new rule would have unintended consequences. "If I can't import Italian pastas anymore, domestic manufacturers will want to charge me more for their products," said a buyer for a leading chain.

To the old joke about hell being a place where the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it's all organized by the Italians ...we might have to add "and the grocers are Argentine."

One Truck.

At this time of year, El Mercado de Liniers, South Americas' largest cattle market, receives hundreds of trucks.

Yesterday, there was only one truckload of cattle at Liniers.

ARGENTINA'S largest butchers union and farm groups launched a two-day beef trade strike Thursday to protest layoffs and reduced shifts due to a drop in slaughter levels and the government's closing of beef exports.  Trade at the country's main cattle market, Liniers, ground to a halt Thursday as ranchers held back deliveries to support the stoppage by the greater Buenos Aires butchers union, or SIGCBA. Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and the surrounding areas are the most densely populated in the country.

Staple foods are in a bind

Not that I have much of a sweet tooth... but the recent disappearance of sugar (as well as rice and polenta and other yummy, low on the food chain goodies) is a disturbing result of the pressures on farmers at the production end ...and attempts to hold supermarket prices down until election day.

The wholesale or bulk prices on the above commodities are not regulated.  Entonces, processors and others that buy in large quantities are not experiencing shortages.  But for you and I who are just looking for a kilo or so at the regulated supermarket price ...we're finding the cupboards bare when wheeling our carts down certain aisles.

If you like to cook from scratch like I do, this can be a real pain.  And don't forget that some of your favorite eateries in your neighborhood don't have the wherewithal nor the storage space to buy nor stock large quantities of these staples.

I'm hoping this phenomenon won't spread to the last few non-processed foods that still live on our lower supermarket shelves ...but I'm not optimistic.

Stockyards Swamped

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Argentina's main stockyard says a record number of cattle have arrived to market after farmers and truckers lifted a nationwide strike.

Roberto Arancedo is president of the country's main stockyard. He says the arrival of 28,700 head of cattle on Monday is nearly five times that of an average Monday and is the highest number recorded in the past seven years.

"After the strike last week it's logical that there would be a lot of cattle, but this exceeds our expectations," Arancedo said.

Argentina is the fifth-largest exporter of beef worldwide.

"Mikey Nails" en castellano

Apparently, the people of the campo are so frustrated by the strike they are puncturing their own tires!

One little town is reporting scads of old trucks and cars disabled on the streets, their tires having been punctured by the ingenious little device above.

Don't bother looking for these at your local hardware store... there's really only one place you can get them.

No comment...

Argentina misses out on grain bonanza as farm crisis sparks fears ...
International Herald Tribune - France
AP BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Argentina, one of the world's biggest breadbaskets, should be rolling in cash as world food prices soar. ...
See all stories on this topic

Farm crisis spooks Argentine economy
Forbes - NY,USA
The survey of 550 people in Greater Buenos Aires had a sampling error margin of 4 percentage points. Past negotiations have failed. ...
See all stories on this topic

Barclays Cuts Argentine GDP Forecasts for 2008, 2009 (Update2)
Bloomberg - USA
Fernandez tried to raise public pressure on them during a speech in Buenos Aires province yesterday, saying farmers don't want to help the country ...
See all stories on this topic

Argentine farm groups to lift protest on Monday
Reuters - USA
By Cesar Illiano BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine farm groups decided to end their latest protest against soy export taxes on Monday as planned, ...
See all stories on this topic

THUMP 'EM!

One of our favorite blogs here, The Argentine Post, has a link to "a fun little video game" in which you can kick all the Niggers out of Harlem! No, wait a minute, um ...I think it's drive all the Indians out of Patagonia! Or... well, I haven't played it but I'm sure it's all in good fun!

¿What is 25 de Mayo?

The Revolution of May of 1810 (with wikipedia to keep me honest.)

It happened in Buenos Aires.

It wasn't a revolution in the way you might think of the French Revolution or the American Revolution or the Mexican Revolution with all the violence those embraced ...but it was a revolution all the same. Like Cinco de Mayo, it marked the end of an American nation taking orders from a colonial power.

In the case of 25 de Mayo, it was mostly the ruling class and the commercial class of Buenos Aires that chose to no longer take orders from the Spanish Crown.

That wasn't too tough to do. The Spanish Crown had been deposed by Napoleon who installed his brother, Joe, as the new King of Spain. The king's guy in The Río de la Plata, The Viceroy, no longer had the force of his boss to justify his rule here.

The Viceroy tried to keep the news of King's fall a secret but with the arrival of a British (here they come again...) warship on the 13th of May in Montevideo harbor the word was out that something big had happened to His Majesty. So the Viceroy made up a bunch of shit and called for loyalty oaths to the King.

The Viceroy and his bunch were already not held in high regard by the owning class nor the working class of Buenos Aires. There had already been two British invasions of Buenos Aires within the space of one year (like it or not, as today, if you controlled Buenos Aires ...you control Argentina. In the case of 1810, you controlled Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.) They say that even housewives came out to beat British troops with whatever they could lay their hands on. How's THAT for a cacerolazo!

Not only did Buenos Aires beat back the two British invasions ...but they did it with none of the promised support of the Spanish King. So already, there was some talk about His Majesty being good for nothin' on this side of the pond.

On the 18th, Rodríguez Peña and a couple of buddies asked for permission to have what Yankees (not yanquis!) would call a town meeting (you had to ask, in those days.) The whole situation was shit for birds to the folks that had to make a living here. They decided that they were gonna call a few shots, themselves.

The Viceroy was not hip in the least to allow this open meeting. He called a bunch of the top military to his digs in The Fort (you can still see a piece of the old fort in back of the Casa Rosada.)

Cornelio Saavedra, (lots of street names in this story, eh!) chief of the Patricios Regiment (those are the guys we still see in the parks every now and then with the cool old 18th century uniforms!) was in attendance. When the Viceroy asked for his support, Saavedra replied that he should resign, as the Junta which had appointed him no longer existed.

Ya see, everybody down this way derived his authority and position from the King... 'ceptin' that there weren't exactly no King no more ...and the King never was much good for the Río de la Plata even back in the good ol' days of Empire.

Saavedra offered some kind advice, "Hey 'Roy, maybe youse oughta just pack it in and go back to Spain." Viceroy Cisneros did just that. He made it back to the Old Country and held a few big jobs like admiral ...and actually came back 10 years later to try to take back Argentina by force. That's about all that history has to say about ol' 'Roy.

On the 25th, about 500 of the top citizens in town (pretty big town, even back then!) met in the Cabildo (you know, the one they chopped off in order to make Avenida de Mayo head straight to Plaza de Mayo) and kicked 'Roy out and formed the "First Congress", better known as the "Primera Junta" (Hey! That's a subte stop!) 'Roy tried to hang in there for a few hours as the President of the Primera Junta but that went over like a lead balloon.

Napoleon didn't exactly cause the whole thing but he threw the last grenade that made it all possible. For years and years, the Spanish Crown was happy to suck the sweet, juicy center out of Latin America ...but never had any interest in infrastructure. There is an old saying that when the day came that even the slaves in the silver mines of Potosí wore loincloths of British-made cloth... the whole thing was over. (Peak Silver?)

So that's your 25 de Mayo. It was really a week or a month but the 25th was when the whole thing shook-out and a "new order of the ages" (a novus ordo seclorum, if you like) was formed here in the Americas of the South.

It's really something that every son and daughter of liberty can celebrate heartily ...not unlike Bastille Day. Hard to believe that all the bars here are closed!

It's also a cautionary tale for ALL empires.

¡Feliz 25 de Mayo!
¡Libertad, libertad, libertad!

In case you don't know...

I'm DYING to write about what you want me to write about.

Psst...

Argentine Minister of Economy,
Martín Lousteau, suddenly resigns.

Argentina to decriminalize Pot?
...from El Financiero.mx

psst...

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2234283620080422

My last post... for my own safety

There will be nothing more from the Yanq on the subject of the strike in the campo. I am only a partner in all the cows we have. I cannot afford to bring a spotlight on myself and harm the rest of my family.

Today's print and web edition of La Nacion reports that 50 members of the Argentina's Federal Police forcibly seized five truckloads of cattle from the ranch of a strike supporter near the town of Brandsen, southeast of the provincial capital of Buenos Aires, La Plata.

The story has not appeared in any other media outlets.

"The government began to apply yesterday The Law of Supply. According to sources from La Nacion, Juan Eiras, President of the Argentine Chamber of Feedlot Operators (Caehv), was forced to give into pressure from the Secretary of Domestic Commerce, Guillermo Moreno, who made good on his threat to send the Policia Federal to assure the delivery to market of the cattle that he finishes (fattens) in his establishment."

The paper said that the confiscation occurred after threatening phone calls from the ministry.

A cattle truck can hold an average of 35 animals each. Furthermore, many ranchers send their cattle to feedlots for final fattening. Mr. Eiras said that he did not know all the owners of the cattle confiscated from him.

The law is not required to compensate the owner.

Please, do not leave any further comments regarding the rural strike on this website.