A Brazilian truckers' protest entered its fourth day on Monday, preventing grain-carrying vehicles from taking a key road for soy and corn shipments in the state of Mato Grosso, police and the highway operator said. The demonstration started on Friday as truck owners demanded greater compensation from commodities traders and transportation companies to transport soy and corn from the state to exporting ports in southern Brazil.
The main harvest has just started in Mato Grosso, Brazil's No. 1 soy and corn producing state, where farmers are expected to collect 30 million tonnes of soybeans.
Police said protesting truck drivers were stopping all trucks carrying grains at two points in the BR-364 road and asking them to park. The protest is not aimed at stopping flow of other vehicles.
Road operator Rota do Oeste, controlled by Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, confirmed that grain-carrying trucks are being parked on the side of the road, reducing the room for normal traffic.
Gilson Baitaca, one of the protest's leaders, told Reuters on Friday the demonstration aimed to force commodities traders with large operations in the state, such as Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland, to renegotiate compensation for truck owners.
A manager at a large grain elevator in the area, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Monday that he had no reports of problems so far to get grain out of the region. Trucks might be avoiding the protests by taking alternate roads.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.