The Competition Superintendence (CS) will study competition in El Salvador's cheese market over the next five months due to rising cheese prices nationally and internationally. The CS seeks to identify barriers to competition and their effects. It will request information from producers, importers, distributors and regulators. The study aims to strengthen competition in the cheese industry value chain if needed.

1. Press Release C. 47-09
El Salvador, October 29th, 2009.
Competition Advocacy: Studies
CS will Study Competition in the Cheese Market
Due to the importance of cheese in the Salvadoran basic food basket and to said product´s
price increment nationally and internationally, the Competition Superintendence will study
the competition conditions under which the cheese industry is functioning in the country.
“Within its Driven by the importance of cheese on the Salvadoran basic food basket and to the
price increase observed in the country´s cheese industry, the CS will begin a study
competition advocacy
to determine the competition conditions of the aforementioned industry and, if
activities, the CS necessary, will propose measures to strengthen and improve competition in the
conducts studies on different links of the value chain.
the competition
conditions of different In said study which will last five months, ending in March 2010, the CS seeks to
sensible sectors, in identify and analyze the legal, economic, and structural elements of the cheese
industry in the country that can represent entry barriers to economic agents,
order to issue, if establishing their effects on the development of competition conditions and
necessary, consumer welfare.
recommendations to
improve the The CS shall request legal, economic, financial, and commercial information from
performance of the different participating economic agents, amongst these, big, medium, and small
producers, importers, and distributors, as well as from regulators, State Ministries,
market under study”, producers associations, amongst others.
asserted Jose
Enrique Argumedo, With respect to market studies, article 4 of the Competition Law states that the CS
Competition shall enforce the law by means of a technical, legal, and economic analysis system,
Superintendent. complemented by support studies and other pertinent activities to perform its
activities in an optimum manner.
Characteristics of the cheese industry in El Salvador
Cheese is basic consumption product for the population. Two types of cheese (in Spanish, queso fresco y el
queso duro blando) occupy the sixth and the tenth position, respectively, in the group of foods with higher ranking
in the market´s basket pursuant to the Consumer Prices Index (in Spanish, Índice de Precios al Consumidor
“IPC”).
According to certain market indicators, since 2007, an increase in cheese prices has been observed nationally
and internationally, becoming necessary to investigate the causes of said increment by means of a competition
analysis. In El Salvador, approximately, 5 companies process cheese at an industrial level; 32 are semi-
industrialized; and over 3,000 are hand milk processors, whose main product is cheese.
Edificio Madreselva, 1er Nivel, Calzada El Almendro y 1ª Ave. El Espino, Urb. Madreselva, Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador.
E-mail: contacto@sc.gob.sv - www.sc.gob.sv

2. Background
During the first semester of 2009, the CS carried out an exam on the competition conditions of the milk industry,
which had two phases: in the first phase a study on the competition conditions of the milk industry was executed.
As a result of said study, public policy recommendations were issued to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
(in Spanish, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería), and to the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (in
Spanish, Ministerio de Salud Pública y de Asistencia Social), in order to avoid the existence of entry barriers to
potential competitors in the market and to promote competition under nondiscriminatory conditions amongst
producers.
With the purpose to complete the aforementioned analysis and due to its importance in the national economy,
during the second phase, a study on the competition conditions of the cheese industry in El Salvador will be
carried out.
Within its 2006-2010 Operative Plan, the CS will execute various studies on the competition conditions of different
sectors of the national economic activity. In the past years, the CS has conducted studies on the following
markets: liquid fuels, liquid petroleum gas, poultry (eggs and chicken), electricity, telecommunications, rice
industry, sugar industry, fertilizers, and milk, amongst others.
Edificio Madreselva, 1er Nivel, Calzada El Almendro y 1ª Ave. El Espino, Urb. Madreselva, Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador.
E-mail: contacto@sc.gob.sv - www.sc.gob.sv