Misiones yerba mate crisis drives push for emergency price‑support law

Producers and workers in Misiones met with Governor Hugo Passalacqua to present a draft Emergency Yerba Mate Law aimed at restoring a minimum price for green leaf after the removal of INYM’s pricing authority under DNU 70/23. The proposal, backed by the Diocese of Posadas, seeks subsidies, food modules for excluded workers, and a legal framework to set a price floor covering production costs.

Hugo Sand, head of the Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios de Misiones (APAM), warned that deregulation has cut producer revenue by an estimated 200 billion pesos a year, dropping the market price to 230‑280 pesos per kilo while a sustainable price should exceed 700 pesos. The sector asserts the crisis threatens thousands of rural families and the regional economy, calling for provincial executive authority to periodically determine a fair minimum price based on technical studies.