Trucking firms end strike in Argentine

Protests had paralysed farming exports of country

BUENOS AIRES:

Argentine grain transporters have called off a strike over a dispute with producers that had paralysed farming exports, the national haulage federation said on Friday.

Thousands of trucks that carry grain and its derivatives had been parked up on the side of the road for four days with shipment companies unhappy at the amount they were being paid to transport grain since their fuel costs have shot up in recent months due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But the strike was lifted following an intervention by the transport ministry that resulted in an “immediate increase of 20%” in freight rates and a promise to renegotiate those again in the first half of May, said the Argentine Haulage Federation, FETRA.

The agreement comes at a critical time for the Argentine farming industry right in the middle of the harvest season.

The South American country is the world’s largest exporter of soybean flour and oil, and one of the main suppliers of wheat, soybean and corn.

The strike caused “losses of about $100 million a day,” according to Gustavo Idigoras, president of the Ciara-CEG oil and grain exporters chamber.

“About 200 tons (of produce) have been left unloaded at port terminals,” Idigoras said in a statement on Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2022.

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