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Brazil Trucker Strike Caused Billions in Losses

Brazil Trucker Strike Caused Billions in Losses
Brazil Trucker Strike Caused Billions in Losses

The economic losses caused by truckers’ long strike across Brazil since Monday have so far exceeded 10.2 billion reais ($2.8 billion), according to initial estimates from various sectors.

The Brazilian government reached a new agreement with truck drivers on Sunday to end a seven-day strike that left many businesses without vital supplies and most gas stations in the country without fuel.

Published on Sunday by the daily, Folha de Sao Paulo, the number is more than double the five billion reais ($1.37 billion) the government has unblocked to cover the losses, Xinhua reported.

The president of the Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry, Jose Carlos Martins, said that 40% of the sector’s activities had been affected by the strike, jeopardizing 2.4 billion reais of business.

In the poultry and pork sector, losses have been estimated at around 1.8 billion reais in the first five days of the strike.

The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein said this number includes both losses on the internal market and exports. “Each day chickens are dying and eggs are not fertilizing. Over 50 million birds have already died,” it said.

In the cattle industry, export losses have been estimated at 620 million reais, although this could rise in coming days, as animals begin to run out of food.

Milk producers have announced losses of 1.1 billion reais with 95 million liters of milk being lost every day. The pharmaceutical sector has reported losses of one billion reais and the automotive sector has declared 1.3 billion reais of losses due to factories shutting down for a lack of parts.

Electronics, airlines, coffee producers and garment workers have also seen losses in the millions.

Supermarkets have been running out of food, medication is out of stock in pharmacies and service stations are out of fuel, paralyzing Latin America’s largest economy.

The truckers have been protesting all week against a rise in fuel prices.

Meanwhile, the government has agreed to a discount in diesel prices that will be in place for 60 days and to sign a bill that will allow truckers not to pay toll on rear axles when not in use, among other concessions, Brazilian President Michel Temer said during a televised speech Sunday night, MarketWatch reported.

This is the second agreement announced by the government in an attempt to end the strike. Last week, the government said several truckers’ unions had agreed to suspend the strike, but one of the biggest groups representing drivers, the Brazilian Association of Truckers, rejected the deal.

 

 

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