April 2, 2008

 

Argentina farmers to continue strike, but roadblocks will allow milk

 

Leaders of Argentina's main farm groups said that the concessions announced by the president and economy minister on Monday evening did not address the core of the problem that has driven farmers to strike for the past 19 days.

 

Speaking at a press conference immediately following President Cristina Fernandez's comments, the leaders vowed to continue the strike until at least Wednesday, when they would meet to consider their options.

 

The strike, which has caused severe food shortages across the country and forced grain exporters to default on contracts, was launched in response to a new sliding-scale export tax system which initially drove the tax on soy exports up by over 10 percentage points.

 

"We're worried, we need to analyze this...but at first glance this doesn't change the essence of the problem," said Agrarian Federation (FAA) president Eduardo Buzzi.

 

Continued negotiations were needed to resolve the crisis, he said.

 

The president of the Rural Confederation, Mario Llambias, said the government did not understand the root of the problem.

 

"This goes much beyond soy," he said. Llambias indicated that the strike would continue and pointed out that there were now 400 roadblocks across the country preventing the transport of agricultural goods.

 

Buzzi also said that the roadblocks would only target grain and livestock transport and that trucks carrying milk and other perishables would be let through. If not, the farmers risked alienating the public by continuing to affect supplies of essential goods, he said.

 

Argentine Economy Minister Martin Lousteau on Monday announced measures to compensate small-scale farmers for the effect of a recent, controversial tax hike on soy exports.

 

Lousteau said the government would offer refunds on export taxes equivalent to the loss that these smaller producers have incurred since the tax was raised under a new system introduced on March 11.

 

Vowing to challenge the heavy concentration of soy production in the hands of a few large producers, Lousteau said the measure would cover 80 percent of all producers, those who produce just 20 percent of the country's total output. Additionally, special transport subsidies will be given to small producers in Argentina's more distant, poorer northern provinces.