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Port labor issues continue to plague Argentina
Labor issues among Argentine ports continue to impact global grain trade.
U.S. Commodities president Don Roose says a week after a dock worker strike ended, there’s optimism a deal can be reached with Argentina’s grain inspectors’ union, Urgara.
“But ahead of us we’re also going to probably have a truckers’ strike as we get closer to harvest. They’ve just had a terrible time with inflation down there.”
He tells Brownfield the union is asking for a 35 percent pay wage hike in the face of a 30 percent peso devaluation.
Argentina’s Ministry of Agriculture recently suspended corn export registrations through February.
“So that’s telling us that they want to wait and see what they have for a crop before they ship too much more grain out, so that’s a bit of a concerning factor.”
Roose says Argentina accounts for about 17 percent of the world’s corn exports and is the largest global exporter of soybean meal and soy oil.