BUENOS AIRES, BRAZIL — Truckers in Argentina, independent Teamsters, are protesting and blocking roads over increased fuel prices, taxes and highway tolls, MercoPress reported.

The Argentina Cereals Chamber and Commodities Stock Exchange (CIARA-CEC) said the road disruptions could impact the transportation of grains and oilseeds to be exported.

A CIARA-CEC spokesman told MercoPress, “Currently everything is operating, but the terminals only have a certain amount of storage capacity ... If the protest extends over time, it will generate problems. There is concern.”

CIARA-CEC also expressed worry of the overall impact the protest could have on the country’s economy as a whole.

“These measures generate economic losses that affect all the links of the agro-industrial production chain and put at risk the supply of the domestic market and processing, as well as impeding the access of trucks with grains to export ports,” CIARA-CEC said.

On Jan. 20, a total of 321 trucks were able to deliver grain to the port, which is 88% less than the average before the protest begun, Mercopress reported, citing the Rosario Chamber of Commerce.

The trucker protest comes about a month after Argentine oilseed workers unions and soy crushing companies signed a new deal to end the 20-day strike. The strike began over oilseed workers wanting better wages, particularly for those who continued to work through the height of the coronavirus pandemic.