Argentine province seeks to end protest that paralyzes grain exports

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The government of Argentina’s Santa Fe province on Wednesday night ordered a mandatory conciliation to put an end to a shutdown that has blocked grain shipments at some major ports in the Rosario region, the country’s export hub, an industry official told Reuters.

Protests by construction port workers in Rosario, the country’s main grain center, have disrupted shipments, with roadblocks to some of the region’s main export terminals.

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“We have to comply with the order and continue with negotiations, which will take some time,” Cristian Diaz, a UOCRA union official in San Lorenzo, in Santa Fe province, told Reuters.

The protest began on Tuesday night, July 6. Over the next day, it spread to the districts of Puerto General San Martin and Timbués, north of Rosario, affecting shipments from Argentina.

Workers represented by the UOCRA union demand that construction companies serving agro-export companies pay higher wages at the port facilities.

“There are pickets at the entrances to the factories. They have blocked everything, Timbúes, and Puerto General San Martín. All the ports are stopped. They can’t unload or load ships. There is terrible congestion of trucks,” said Guillermo Wade, manager of the Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities (CAPYM), on Wednesday morning.

Cargill, Nidera, and Louis Dreyfus have their processing plants and ports in regions affected by the protest in Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soybean meal and oil and third-largest exporter of corn grain.

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