Today, FACUA-Consumers in Action held a press conference in which they explained what they consider to be a joke, in which the Government sets the maximum price of surgical masks at 72 cents per unit, when in the market they can be obtained for a price that ranges between 20 and 50 cents per unit in large stores and on the Internet at lower prices depending on the quantity you buy.
Note from FACUA
Según ha comunicado el Ministerio de Sanidad, esta modificación del precio máximo se ha producido después de «revisar los precios de mercado actuales de las mascarillas quirúrgicas en España, tanto en grandes superficies, como en oficinas de farmacia y venta online con objeto de garantizar la libre competencia por debajo del precio máximo fijado».
In this regard, the association warns that this amount is above the vast majority of market prices, where masks can be found for amounts ranging from 20 to 50 cents, and stresses that, before the pandemic, national manufacturers supplied masks to distributors for 3 cents.
De igual forma, FACUA recuerda que ya había reclamado al Gobierno que fijara en 10 céntimos el precio de las mascarillas quirúrgicas. «Determinados fabricantes, intermediarios y grandes establecimientos están incurriendo en una enorme especulación al aplicar márgenes de beneficio desproporcionados», ha criticado el secretario general de la asociación, Rubén Sánchez.
This reduction in the maximum price is accompanied by the reduction in VAT applicable to masks from 21% to 4% announced by the Government on 11 November. A measure that FACUA considered insufficient if it was not accompanied by a drastic reduction in the maximum price, which ultimately did not occur.
