The roaring economy of Argentina has been based on several successes, including a booming agricultural sector and an upswing in construction and industrial production. It appears as though one of the successes, a booming agricultural sector is putting heavy demands on the people of Argentina. Argentina beef is some of the best beef in the world and consumers around the world are buying as much as they can and the price of beef reflects this attitude according to this report.
The average Argentinian eats about 60 to 70 kilos of beef per year. Any price hike is felt immensely by the ravenous beef consumer in this South American country. The President of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, has decided to fight the high price of beef by first banning beef exports and now encouraging people to eat less beef. There are more heavy handed approaches such as price controls, but so far the President has decided to control prices through export taxes, export bans, and appealing to consumers to change their habits.
On the surface, this may seem like an anti-business initiative that hurts the Argentine economy, but I take this differently. This is a great opportunity for President Kirchner to look after the welfare of his people and control overpricing in the marketplace. Why should Argentine consumers have to compete with consumers in other countries for a product that benefits from the natural resources of Argentina? It is nice to see that in this age of globalization that some people are spared from the competitiveness that exists in the international marketplace.