By Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Activity halted on Thursday at various grain processing plants in Argentina's agro-industrial hub north of Rosario due to a 24-hour union strike that began in the early hours of the morning, the head of the local CIARA crushers chamber said.
The SOEA oilseed workers union are striking over demands for bonus payments for working during the COVID-19 pandemic. The union previously held a strike in October over the issue and talks with the companies since then have not managed to break a deadlock.
Argentina is the top global exporter of soy oil and meal, derived from soybeans grown on the country's fertile grasslands.
"The San Lorenzo (plants) are stopped," CIARA president Gustavo Idígoras told Reuters, adding that in Puerto General San Martín and Timbúes - the other towns that make up the agro-export hub - SOEA union workers were working part-time.
"We insist on resuming dialogue and negotiation," Idígoras added. "We have already agreed to the salary increase until August of next year. The special COVID bonus that they are asking us (for) is impossible. We need to return to the table to close the agreement soon," he said.
CIARA represents the major crushing companies in Argentina.
Commodity groups Cargill, COFCO International, Terminal 6, a joint venture between Bunge and the local AGD, and Argentina's Buyatti have crushing plants in San Lorenzo.
Together they have a daily processing capacity of 35,500 tonnes, based on data from the Rosario grains exchange.
The agro-export center located about 50 kilometers (31.07 miles) north of Rosario concentrates about 80% of the agricultural and agro-industrial exports of Argentina.
In the first 10 months of the year, agro-export companies in Argentina shipped 20.3 million tonnes of soybean meal and 4.7 million tonnes of soybean oil, worth a total of around $9.922 billion, based on official data. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Adam Jourdan. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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Strike halts crushing operations in Argentina's grains hub - Successful Farming
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