Argentine grain exports are affected by roadblocks by truck drivers at ports in the province of Buenos Aires, the chamber of grain exporting and processing companies (CIARA) said on Tuesday.

Driver pickets, which require lower taxes, tolls and fuel prices as well as tariff schemes that farmers must pay for transportation, could reach Rosario, the country’s main agricultural export center, at midnight, truckers said.

About 80% of Argentina’s agricultural exports are shipped from the Rosario terminals. The South American country is the third largest corn exporter in the world and the main supplier of soybean meal livestock feed.

Local government officials are expected to meet with representatives of the drivers to negotiate an agreement to end the protests.

“We are not part of the problem, but we are suffering the consequences. We are having serious problems with the export programs,” Gustavo Idigoras, head of CIARA, told Globe Live Media.

The protests are concentrated around the ports of Bahía Blanca and Quequén, in the south of the province of Buenos Aires.

The group of independent truckers Transportistas Unidos de Argentina (Tuda) said they would include the ports of Rosario in the midnight protest.

“We complain about the rates and logistics costs that are what mark the economy,” explained Santiago Carlucci, president of Tuda to the radio Aire de Santa Fe.

Argentina has been in recession since 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the economic situation of families, hit by high inflation. Consumer prices rose more than 36% last year and 4% in December alone.

Tuda held protests last month over the same claim, and several groups representing workers in ports and soybean crushing plants held strikes in December to demand compensation for high inflation and the risk of working during the pandemic.

The striking dock workers eventually reached contractual agreements with exporting companies.

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