No matter the county, truck drivers keep the economy moving. This is something that the Brazilian government has learned the hard way.
Upset over ever increasing regulations and taxes, truck drivers in Brazil have held a massive strike over the last week and a half. Hundreds of truck drivers have participated by shutting down on local roads and highways, creating hundreds road blocks across several major cities.
Brazilian officials say the strike has resulted in the temporary closure of nearly 60 pork and poultry plants, reducing the county’s production of those products in half.
Abiilio Diniz, the chariman of one of Brazil’s largest chicken exporters, said that they are struggling to meet export orders amid the strike. “This is a sad moment for our country,” Diniz told reporters.
The strike is not just effecting local markets however. As the truckers stopped rolling, so did the country’s soybean production, which is one of it’s largest exports, and as a result the international prices of soybean futures have surged.
Truckers held the strike in protest of the government’s recent increase on diesel fuel taxes. The shut down initially began in one city, but picked up steam and eventually spread throughout the country.
According to highway police, the truckers are allowing passenger vehicles and trucks with perishable goods to pass through there blockades, but are stopping trucks carrying dry good like soybeans.
So far police have issued 25 fines to truckers involved in the barricades, but the driver’s have heard no official government response and are likely to remain on strike.
