Brazil Gov't Arrives at Deal With Striking Truck Drivers

Brazil's government has arrived at a deal with truck drivers on Thursday after a four-day strike that practically shut down Latin America's largest economy.

RELATED:
Brazil Comes to Halt as Truck Drivers Strike for 4th Day

Under the deal, a 10-percent price cut for diesel announced by Petrobras on Wednesday will be extended to 30 days, with the government compensating the company for costs beyond the originally announced 15-day period.

The deal will involve a 10 percent price cut for diesel, which will be extended to 30 days and re-evaluated every 30 days, replacing the policy of daily price changes.

The strike, in which around one million truckers participated, had paralyzed the economy, leading to shortages of perishable food on store shelves, fuel shortages that shut down airports, and vehicle production halting.

By Thursday, eight Brazilian airports had reached a critical situation due to lack of fuel. The airports accounted for 60 percent of Brazil's air traffic.

Poultry and pork processors association ABPA said 120 plants had halted production for lack of feed and storage space, up from 78 previously.

At Paranaguá port, Brazil’s second-largest grain export hub, the protests impeded 1,000 trucks from delivering goods over two days, Brazil’s largest cooperative Coamo Agroindustrial said on Thursday.

With the strike stopped, the country will need around 12 days to return to normal as cargo shipments catch up, according to Abcam, one of the major truckers groups behind the protest.

The government of Senate-imposed President Michel Temer began a daily readjustment policy of the cost of oil derivatives on July 3, 2017. Since then, Petrobras, Brazil's majority state-owned oil company, has raised the price of diesel fuel in its refineries 121 times, representing an increase of 56.5 percent.

Congressman Ivan Valente, of the Socialism and Liberty Party, (PSOL)tweeted that the “truck drivers' strike has the potential to bring down the unpopular, moribund, corrupt government of (Michel) Temer.”