Coronavirus in Mexico: grocery sales rose 18.6% annually, reported the National Association of Wholesale Grocers

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The best-selling products were: beans, rice, eggs, and tuna

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that plagues Mexico and the world, there is good news: sales in grocery stores (self-service) grew 18.6% at an annual rate in March, Iñaki Landáburu, executive president of the National Association of Wholesale Grocers (ANAM).

The fastest-growing item in these Mexican self-service stores was food, with an increase of 22.3%, among which stand out beans (90.5%), rice (65.7%), eggs (55.3%) and tuna ( 42.2%), specified the director of ANAM, which groups 140 partners from the country’s grocery sector.

Other products with increases, he added, were toilet paper (17%) and the home care sector (16%), in which the sale of chlorine rose 62.8%.

“We will not stop our operation, since we are responsible for more than 50% of the distribution of basic consumer products and, above all, to the most vulnerable classes in the country,” Landáburu said in a message to the media.

Beans are a typical Mexican dish (Photo: @maiklaguna)
Beans are a typical Mexican dish (Photo: @maiklaguna)

These increases occur amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Mexico, which entered Phase 3 of the pandemic on Tuesday, registering 8,772 confirmed cases and 712 deaths.

The Government declared a health emergency on March 30, which suspends non-essential activities until May 30 in what it has called the National Day of Healthy Distance, although the food sector is considered essential in its production, distribution, and sale.

“April is being another crazy month because they are growing groceries. Let us do everything possible so that the crowded summer, which begins in May, helps us in this situation because the grocery must be stronger than ever,” said Landáburu.

This report comes days after the 4.3% annual growth report in March of the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores (ANTAD).

Accumulated sales in March amounted to 316,200 million pesos (12,947 million dollars), reported ANTAD, which represents more than 62,000 stores.

Even so, merchants have asked the Mexican government for support to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

The National Alliance of Small Merchants (Anpec) asked this week to create a revolving fund with a budget of 2.5 billion dollars that the federal government has offered to revive small and medium-sized businesses.

Coparmex proposes a “solidarity salary” to prevent job loss

Photo: AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell
Photo: AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell

For its part, the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex), which brings together more than 36,000 companies, has insisted over and over that the economic plan of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the face of the emergency by COVID-19 It is not enough to help the country’s entrepreneurs and rescue most of the bankruptcy, which would also represent the loss of millions of jobs.

The clashes between the government and the employers have been constant and increasingly raise the tone.

Faced with this situation, Coparmex made a new proposal based on four points with the aim of rescuing jobs. This was disseminated through a letter published in the newspapers of the 32 states of the Republic, through which the Employers Union invited the workers to support the Solidarity Salary as a measure to protect the 14 million workers who earn between one and three minimum wages.

In financing this rescue, Coparmex proposes to the Executive to rescue the jobs of the workers, who, given the impossibility of resuming activities due to the health contingency, can avail themselves of sufficient funds from the suspension of the construction of public works or projects. of the 4T such as the Maya Train, the Dos Bocas Refinery, the Santa Lucia airport, as well as the construction of baseball stadiums.

The objective of Coparmex aims at the union of workers with their companies, in addition to emphasizing the great relevance of the contributions of the labor sector in the national economy.

This proposal, which requires a monthly government investment of 96 thousand 311 million pesos, will benefit 14 million 149 thousand 645 workers who earn between one and three minimum wages; 5 million 350 thousand 678 employees whose income ranges between 3 and 10 minimum wages and finally a million 113 thousand 213 employees whose salary is greater than 10 minimum wages per month.

Source: infobae.com

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