News
07.09.2009
Farming unions decide to end strike in Argentina
Following lengthy discussion, Argentina's powerful agricultural producers' unions yesterday decided to end their one-week strike tomorrow night. Farmers had stopped grain and livestock deliveries to local markets last week, after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner vetoed an agricultural emergency law aimed at alleviating the effects of a severe drought (seeArgentina: 26 August 2009: ). Under the law, approved by Congress in August, 22 districts in Buenos Aires province would be eligible for the temporary suspension of grain export duties and a further 15 districts would benefit from a 50% cut. In total, the tax cuts foreseen by the bill are estimated to amount to $3US billion, a sum which the government argues it cannot afford. The strike has so far not affected pivotal soya exports, as stock is sufficient to cover all existing obligations, according to representatives of the soya export sector.
Significance:While the end of the strike will ease tensions, it does not mean the end of the conflict between the farmers and the government. Farmers have vowed to continue their campaign of street demonstrations in an effort to pressure the government into reducing its highly controversial tax on agricultural exports, in particular soya. But prospects of the farmers reaching this goal over the short run are relatively small, as President Kirchner has been recuperating from her heavy defeat in the recent mid-term elections and income from these taxes is pivotal to funding government social programmes. The prospects for farmers may change, however, once the newly elected Congress, in which the government will not hold a majority, convenes in December.
Global Insight
