Buenos Aires, April 14, 2022 (AFP) — A strike by grain and derivatives truck drivers demanding better rates for the fourth consecutive day in Argentina amid rising diesel (diesel) prices has paralyzed food exports, warned on Thursday. Thursday (14) agricultural resources.

“The entire agricultural export complex is at a standstill. The Argentine economy cannot afford these luxuries,” said Gustavo Idígoras, head of the Center for the Petroleum Industry and Grain Exporters (Ciara-CEC).

Thousands of trucks stopped or parked on the roadsides in Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soy flour and oil and one of the first in foreign wheat, soy and corn sales, raising nearly $35 billion in 2021. to official data.

The crisis broke out in the middle of the 2021-2022 harvest of Argentine agriculture due to the increase in fuel value driven by rising international prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The organizer of the strike, the Argentine Transporters Federation (FETRA), said that “agricultural organizations rejected the true price of diesel that hauliers paid” and demanded an increase in freight rates from agricultural employers.

The government held a reconciliation meeting Wednesday between the warring parties – FETRA and agricultural employers – but the dialogue was unsuccessful.

A liter of diesel is sold at petrol stations for 110 pesos (US$0.93), but FETRA reported that there was “a shortage” and they began charging surcharges that brought the price to 191 pesos (US$1.6).

“The strike causes losses of about $100 million, about 200 tons per day that are not unloaded at the port terminals. We have 50 ships waiting,” Idígoras said.

The businessman admitted that there is not enough diesel for tractors and combines. Idígoras explained that 3,000 to 4,000 trucks enter the terminals each day, and only a dozen do.