Monday, May 5, 2008

Argentine farmers threaten with striking again

Farmers in Argentina have threatened with striking again this week and possibly repeating a three-week protest which led to heavy food shortages throughout the country. With a 30-day truce between farmers and the government about to end, the head of Argentina's Agrarian Federation observed that “there's lots of unease” between both sides.

In order to prevent a possible strike, the Argentine government agreed today to lower restrictions on the exportation of beef. Yet the secretary of the Argentine Rural Society (ARS) believed that the government’s actions will hurt ranchers’ activities:

ARS secretary Javier Jayo said that the resolutions published today in the Official Bulletin…”obstruct” beef exportations because the selling of beef abroad will depend on the permission of Customs officials. …

The resolution will return to a system that “was outdated and obstructs exportations. It is not a solution.” – [ed. personal translation]

Image- BBC News

Sources (Spanish)- Clarin

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, International Herald Tribune, MWC News

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