Argentine workers' strike blocks soybean export ports
Cargill Inc. and Bunge Ltd. soybean- and grain-export terminals in Argentina are blocked Wednesday after workers began a strike to demand higher salaries.
"All ports are blocked for an indefinite time" near the city f Rosario, Walter Cabrera, an official at the General Labor Confederation, said in a phone interview. Truck, dock and construction workers are demanding a minimum salary of 5,000 pesos ($1,250) per month as of Feb. 1.
Ports outside Rosario, in the central province of Santa Fe, account for more than 60 percent of the soybean shipments in Argentina, the world's third-largest exporter of the oilseed. The bulk of the workers at grain and soybean ports are members of the crushers' union, which reached an agreement with exporters in December following a previous two-day strike.
Walter Savarecio, Bunge's communications manager in Argentina, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment and could not be reached at his office. Lorena Perez, a Bunge press officer, did not return a message left on her phone.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Members of the oil crushers' union, which hasn't joined the strike, haven't been able to enter Rosario-area ports because of the protest, union official Pablo Reguera said in a telephone interview.
The strike may have an impact on prices if it continues for several days, Ricardo Baccarin, president of Buenos Aires-based broker Panagricola Safici, said in a telephone interview.
"The whole shipment process of products going from farms to ports is interrupted by protests like this, because nobody sends products to places with pickets," Baccarin said.
Argentina's soybean output is forecast to drop 15 percent to 47 million metric tons in the current crop, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said Jan. 20.
Soybean futures for March delivery rose 16 cents, or 1.2 percent, to at $13.905 a bushel at 12:42 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Farmers held a seven-day strike earlier this month to protest against government export policies. While the strike stopped deliveries of grains and soybeans to exporters, it did not interrupt exports as companies had enough stockpiles.
Dockworkers also struck for 10 days in the Rosario area in March. The protest ended after workers agreed to receive a 27 percent increase.