South America Calling

Brazil Truckers, Government Reach Agreement; Blockades Continue

Brazilian truckers' representatives and the government reached an agreement late Wednesday to bring an end to the road blockades that have delayed soy deliveries to port and hindered harvest efforts over the last eight days.

But reports from the highways Thursday morning indicate that truckers are continuing to stop rigs across the agricultural interior.

At a summit meeting Wednesday, the government offered truck driver representatives a package of concessions that includes giving truckers more time to pay off loans on rig purchases and an undertaking to hold diesel prices flat for six months.

In return, trucker representatives agreed to recommend an end to the protests but warned they did not represent all truckers, according to Diumar Bueno, president of the Brazilian Autonomous Transporters Confederation.

Despite the agreement, roads remained blocked across many of the main soybean states Thursday morning. According to the federal highway police, as of 7:00 a.m. CST, there were 27 blockades in Rio Grande do Sul, the No. 3 soy state, some 11 blockades in Santa Catarina, another six in Mato Grosso do Sul and 10 more in Mato Grosso, the No. 1 soy state.

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"The situation is worse than yesterday. All trucks are being stopped," said Laercio Lenz, head of the farm union in Sorriso, the biggest grain region of Mato Grosso.

It will take police action to clear the roads, he said.

Public prosecutors have obtained court injunctions to clear roads in nine states.

That needs to happen quickly, as the blockade is severely restricting the supply of diesel that Mato Grosso farmers badly need to continue harvesting soybeans. Indeed, the eight-day blockade is already hampering field work, which should be in full swing this week.

Approximately 20% of the state's soybean farmers have run out of diesel, and the remainder only have stocks for an average of five more days, according to a survey of 540 growers conducted by the Mato Grosso Agricultural Economy Institute (IMEA).

To make matters worse, truck drivers in Mato Grosso are now stopping trucks carrying beans to elevators. Previously, they were only stopping loads going to port or to crushers. With on-farm storage limited, farmers will soon have nowhere to put the soybeans harvested.

As of Friday, Mato Grosso soybean harvesting was 48% complete, and Brazil-wide, field work was 20% finished.

Meanwhile, the arrival of soybean and soymeal trucks at Santos and Paranagua ports has slowed to a trickle and port silo stocks are dwindling, raising concerns that ships may start being delayed. With access to grain limited, pork and poultry firms have suspended operations across the south of Brazil.

Brazil relies on trucks to transport the majority of its massive soy crop to crushers, to the meat industry and to port.

Alastair Stewart can be reached at alastair.stewart@dtn.com

(AG)

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