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Farm strike in Argentina threatens food supplies, again
2008-06-06
A three-month long farmer strike over high export tariffs threatens again to empty store shelves of food, as thousands of truckers have blocked Argentina's main highways to pressure farmers to resume grain and soybean exports. Argentina's Roman Catholic Bishop's Conference on Thursday urged the government to convene an "urgent ... transparent and positive" dialogue, farmers to "review their demand strategy," and truckers to lift their blockade. The strike has lasted, on and off, for nearly 90 days as President Cristina Kirchner refuses to roll back the 13 percent tariff hike on soybean exports she announced in March, and farmers reject her offers to cap the sliding tax scale on the product. The strike took a turn for the worse earlier this week when the truckers' unions in four central provinces, including Buenos Aires, parked their rigs on some 60 roads to protest what they call the farmers' "lockout" impeding grain and soybean exports, which they claim is causing them heavy losses. The road blocks are threatening another food shortage like the one three weeks into the strike, in late March, that emptied supermarket shelves in Buenos Aires and other main cities. Food sectors including butchers and supermarket owners warned Thursday they will run out of stocks including meat, poultry and dairy products in three days if the road blocks are not lifted. Heavy industry has also warned that a drop in raw material deliveries will force temporary plant closures and layoffs. The confrontation has deepened divisions between Argentina's upper and middle classes -- including many well-off farmers -- and the poor, swollen by the country's 2001 financial collapse, who overwhelmingly support Kirchner. The president on Thursday slammed farm owners for ignoring the plight of ordinary citizens. "Show me the worker, store owner or businessman who can afford to stop working for 90 days," she said in a speech. "Only those who have accumulated a great income and a great capital can do it," she added, referring to many large farm owners who have grown rich with the spiraling price of commodities. Argentina is one of the biggest food producers in the world, leading with exports of soybean oil. It is also the second biggest corn exporter, after the United States, and the fifth biggest wheat exporter.
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