Argentine agrarians started a four-day strike in respond to hike of export taxes

Argentine farmers began a four-day sales strike on Monday, Mar. 9 to protest the government's hike of export taxes for soybeans and their byproducts, though shipments were not impacted in the major global food exporter, Successful Farming reports.

Pursuant to the report, three of the South American country's four main rural associations announced the strike last week in frustration over the government's decision to raise soy export taxes to 33% from 30% amid a deep economic crisis.

"The activity in the port area [of Rosario] is completely normal," Guillermo Wade, head of Argentina's CAPyM port operators' chamber, said, adding that the strike is not expected to impact grains shipments because the export companies have reserves in their ports. The latest crop of soy has also not been harvested, Wade said, further mitigating the impacts of the strike.

About 4,800 trucks carrying grains entered the terminals on the Parana River at Rosario on Monday, according to CAPyM data. On the same date last week, the number of trucks was 3,100.

The protest has political implications in Argentina, one of the world's largest exporters of soybeans and corn, as it is reminiscent of a conflict between farmers and the Peronist government of former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from 2007 to 2015.

As a reminder, in late February agriproducers in Argentina expressed their discontent with President Fernández's tax policy.