Argentine butchers' union plans to strike for two days at the end of this month to protest layoffs and reduced shifts due to a drop in slaughter levels and the government's closing of beef exports.

 

Leaders of the country's four top farm groups threw their support behind the stoppage, sharply criticising the government's policies towards the sector. Ranchers also plan to stop cattle sales April 29 and April 30.

 

The government has been holding up some exports since December and totally shut them in March as prices continued to soar. The government regularly shuts down or limits beef exports when prices rise in an attempt to increase domestic supply and bring down the cost to local consumers.

 

The price of beef has shot up since the beginning of the year, angering residents. Argentina has one of the highest beef consumption rates in the world, and prices have risen an estimated 40% so far this year. The government blames the higher beef prices for steep inflation so far this year.

 

The price of beef has surged because of a drought last year and due to the government's intervention in cattle markets since 2006. This spurred ranchers to trim herds in favour of alternative, more-profitable pursuits such as soy. The herd trimming resulted in production of 3.54 million tonnes of beef last year, up 10% from the previous record.

 

However, production is expected to fall 13% this year to 2.8 million tonnes, according to the USDA.

 

The butcher strike comes as Argentine farmers are gearing up for more conflict with the government, planning a protest rally May 3 and considering a stop to soy sales.

 

Farmers are calling for the government to lower the 35% export tax on soy, the elimination of export tax on all other grains and to a freeing up of beef exports.

 

The May 3 protest will be the second of the year, but farm groups have vowed to hold back from the crippling roadblocks that sporadically shut down transport over a four-month period in 2008.

 

Farmers continue to chafe under heavy intervention in grain and beef trade designed to keep down domestic food prices.