The mass consumption sector assures that they are "victims" of inflation and that they are not to blame for the rise in prices

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Oct. 25 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the Association of Manufacturers and Distributors (Aecoc), Ignacio González, assured this Tuesday at the 37th Congress of Great Consumption, which is being held in Santiago de Compostela, that if wage increases accompany inflation, it could enter in "an infinite wheel" and there would be a "Latin Americanization of the Spanish economy" that would be "very dangerous".

In a press conference after speaking at the opening of the congress, González lamented that the consumer sector is "blamed" for the current inflationary situation and insisted that they are "victims" and not "causers".

"Until now they have only blamed us from the media point of view and from now on, what they are putting on us is tax pressure that is going to start on January 1. We enter a vicious circle where the bill is paid by competitiveness of the chain. All the regulation that comes to us is not going to help the competitiveness of the value chain at all", he pointed out.

Thus, he has indicated that what is "fundamental" is the protection of the consumer's purchasing power and that "only by taking measures that favor consumption" will it be possible to get out of the current crisis beforehand.

In this sense, it has demanded from the Government measures that return purchasing power to the consumer, among them, lowering VAT on basic food products, deflating personal income tax, delaying the entry into force of some taxes such as that on plastic because "they are reduce the competitiveness of the sector", as well as "legal certainty that allows investment planning".

Along the same lines, he has asked the Pedro Sánchez Executive for "a more important exercise in solidarity" and "not to transfer responsibility for this situation to either households or companies", since, he has insisted, "they are not to blame ".

The president of the employers' association, which represents manufacturers and distributors, has once again reiterated that businessmen in the sector want to be freed from the "guilt" that, he has emphasized, is given to them of "being the cause of the situation." "Not all the costs that we are bearing are being passed on," he reiterated.

Regarding the price increase, he explained that companies first make cost plans, then reduce margins and "the last thing" is that "they resort to passing the price to the consumer" when "the first and the last do not assume the cost" .

Thus, he has recognized that now they depend on what happens with the cost of energy and the duration of the war in Ukraine but, although they cannot "do anything" about the armed conflict, he has pointed out that "yes, things can be done in the field of competitiveness. However, he has lamented that Spain is "the worst country to recover pre-covid GDP".

Questioned about the fall in company margins, González has reported that they still do not officially have a specific study and that it will be seen as the companies present their quarterly or annual data.

To questions from journalists about how to get out of the current situation, the president of Aecoc has recognized that they will have "a problem" "if the spiral of prices continues, the margin no longer has any more travel, cutting costs no longer has any travel and there is only inflation". "If the consumer can't stand it because disposable income doesn't grow, we have a problem and that will affect small companies," he lamented.

Especially, González believes that the aforementioned problems will be seen in SMEs, "both in distribution and in manufacturing or, of course, in the primary sector."

On the other hand, Ignacio González has been "moderately pessimistic" about the Christmas campaign, although he has said that he sees a small light of hope", since last year the hotel industry did not hold celebrations such as company dinners and other events of the time.

For this reason, he has predicted that the hotel industry "will do well" at Christmas, but in the field of supermarkets he sees "great uncertainty". In this sense, he explained that the celebration of the World Cup, which will be during the month of November, "introduces a lot of distortion" in the consumer's Christmas planning and one of the effects of this event, he has calculated, will be "a Late Christmas".

Also, in relation to the trends that are recorded at this time, González has stated that the distribution brand "is growing in Spain as in other times of crisis." Thus, he has detailed that more chicken meat and less red meat are consumed, or less fresh fish and more surimi. "That is very clear," she remarked.

Regarding salary increases, the CEO of Nueva Pescanova has also stressed that "if salary increases end up accompanying inflation" it would enter "an infinite wheel" that would end up, he added, to a "Latin Americanization" of the economy Spanish that he has described as "very dangerous".

"I think that what has happened is that they have put us in the spotlight, something that has to do with a deep ignorance of what the sector is and I precisely believe that we have a pedagogical task in this sense. When you tell the consumer that the bakery under his house costs 45% more and has only raised 15%, guess where the rest comes from", González exemplified.

"Inflation of 14% is very bad for us. Who thinks that it is good for us?" zero travel".

"The price is the reason for choosing the store where you buy. If you limit it, what is this? It has zero travel and I think nothing is going to happen," said the president of Aecoc.

During his speech on this opening day of the 37th Consumer Goods Congress, Ignacio González pointed to productivity as "the great pending issue" in Spain. "We have lost to everyone and we have the same level of productivity as in 2015. We have not made any progress in seven years," he lamented.

Thus, he has also ensured that the sector "is not against the rise in the SMI", but, he added, "we must gain productivity, work on training, on productive and technological investment, and fight against absenteeism" because, continued, "the best tool for social cohesion in an economy is productivity".