Private Sector Rallies to Try to Keep Food Prices Down Brendan O’Boyle - Reuters
go to original October 3, 2022

Customers walk past vegetables on a makeshift stall in a market in Mexico City. (Luis Cortes/Reuters)

Mexican officials on Monday announced the details of a new deal with companies to halt rising food prices, doubling down on a collaborative effort with the private sector as inflation hovers at a 22-year high.

More than a dozen foodmakers and retailers such as Walmart, tortilla maker Gruma and egg and chicken producer Bachoco are part of the plan, which will waive certain regulatory requirements, Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O said.

Signatories will be granted a license exempting them from quality checks from national health regulators Senasica and Cofepris as well as a general import tax, Ramirez said in a regular news conference with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The Mexican government "will suspend the review of any regulation that is considered to prevent or make the importation and entry of food or its movement within the country more expensive," Ramirez said.

Ramirez added that tariffs and other import costs were included under the deal.

Cooperation with private firms is a key element of a multi-pronged package of anti-inflation and scarcity policies first announced in early May and known as the PACIC for its initials in Spanish, which aims to keep prices stable for 24 basic products. These include corn tortillas, rice, soap, tomatoes, milk, sliced bread and toilet paper.

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