BUENOS AIRES—Argentine farm leaders were cautious on Wednesday before starting talks with the government aimed at averting a fresh strike by the key agricultural sector as a deadline for negotiations draws near.
Farmers staged a three-week strike against a tax hike on soy exports last month, but agreed to lift the protest on April 2 to spend the rest of the month negotiating. The truce is due to end on Friday and so far the talks have produced few deals.
"The main concern is that we've got to this point in the 30 days (of the truce) with almost nothing really resolved," Eduardo Buzzi, president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA), told reporters moments before Wednesday's meeting started. Local television said Agriculture Secretary Javier de Urquiza was leading the midday gathering.
Argentina is one of the world's biggest exporters of soybeans, wheat, corn and beef, and the strike led to a serious disruption of its shipments of farm goods.
It also caused shortages of meat and dairy products in local stores as farmers manned roadblocks and stopped sending goods to market, presenting President Cristina Fernandez with her biggest challenge since taking office in December.
Some Argentine newspapers said farmers may agree to extend the truce beyond May 2. Others reported that the government might be willing to modify the sliding-scale export tax system that triggered the strike.
Grassroots
However, most farm leaders appeared less optimistic and said concrete proposals from the government were still needed to avert the resumption of protests.
"For the moment, (the outlook) isn't good. Because up until now, the conditions to extend the truce aren't there," said Pablo Orsolini, vice president of the FAA—one of the four farm groups that staged the strike.
He told Reuters the decision to extend the negotiations or renew protests would be taken by FAA members on Thursday—a national holiday in Argentina.
Other industry leaders warned grass-roots farmers would not be appeased unless their demands were met, which include the scrapping of the new sliding-scale export taxes that raised the rates on soy and sunseed products.
"Our grass-roots bases in the countryside and all the people who live in the countryside want an answer," said Fernando Gioino, president of the Coninagro group.
The sliding-scale export tax system was the last straw for Argentine farmers, who had been angered by a string of government policies aimed at fighting inflation such as export restrictions on wheat and beef and price controls.
Such measures are defended by the center-left government as a way to redistribute the windfall of soaring global food prices and keep down the cost of everyday staples in a country where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.
Besides the export taxes, farm leaders are negotiating a return to normality in the wheat and beef markets and they have expressed more optimism about agreement in those areas.
Since the start of April, officials have been holding up beef exports at port, and the reopening of the wheat export registry has been repeatedly delayed.
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