Uruguay enables sale of fractioned food products in response to inflationary crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Montevideo and Canelones (southern Uruguay) authorized the sale of food products in fractioned form to respond to the economic crisis, following the request of a union of traders in the country.

The measure, which in the Uruguayan capital will be in force for 180 days, applies to commercial premises of up to 100 square meters, and the fractionation must be done in public view and comply with measures that guarantee food safety, according to the Montevideo City Government (IM) in a communiqué.

Meanwhile, in Canelones, this provision applies to stores of up to 200 square meters.

The Center of Grocers, Retailers, Baristas, Self-Service Stores, and Similar of Uruguay (CAMBADU) requested these measures after detecting a growing demand to buy smaller quantities of food than those packaged at origin, according to its president, Daniel Fernández, in declarations to local television Subrayado.

“Sometimes you see it from a distance, and you don’t realize what it is like to have a short paycheck from the changa (informal and discontinued work), that tomorrow you don’t know if you are going to have it and you have to stretch it all day long,” said Fernández about the situation, to which he described the measure adopted as “positive”.

In Montevideo, all low perishable products may be fractioned, excluding some products such as butter, margarine, ricotta, milk cream, fresh stuffed pasta, tomato preserves, powdered milk, honey, salt, industrial sugar, grated cheese, preserves, and olive oils, among others.

The MI also enabled food production companies to expand the range of packaging to facilitate fractioning for traders.

These two departments (provinces) have a population of 1.8 million people and account for slightly more than half of the country’s population.

The practice of selling fractioned food is common in Uruguay in small towns and popular neighborhoods during periods of crisis, such as the one caused by the escalation of inflation that is sweeping the world due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The Uruguayan government announced on Monday an increase in public salaries and pensions to combat the “inflationary pressure” affecting the country as a result of this conflict, to which the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, assured that the government’s main concern is “that Uruguayans do not lose purchasing power”.

With information from EFE