The Brazilian trucker strike has officially disrupted supply and exports of farm products from one of the biggest ag exporting countries in the world.
A Reuters report says Brazil is the top exporter of soybeans, sugar, coffee, and chickens. The strike over high fuel prices has brought Latin America’s largest economy to a complete stop. Roads are empty and major cities are short on food, gasoline, and medical supplies.
However, the strike has also had devastating impacts on livestock. Tens of millions of chickens have been killed because feed supplies have failed. If they begin to starve, chickens will start eating each other, so meatpackers have had to cull their flocks quickly. Some 70 million chickens had died as of Monday. Poultry and pork processing association ABPA says the country has lost 120,000 tons of potential exports since the trucker strike began.
Brazil is the world’s largest chicken exporter, supplying a third of all shipments around the world.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.