The threat of a new carrier strike starting next week has set off alarms in the agri-food industry. The platform of truckers that starred in the March protests, and that put the Government on the ropes for several days, threatens to return to the mobilizations starting next week. This Sunday the promoters of the platform will decide whether to resume the stoppages and roadblocks because, they consider, the measures that the Executive promised to improve their situation and compensate for the rise in fuel have not yet arrived.
The mere allusion to new days of protests has provoked the reaction of agrarian organizations –Asaja, COAG, UPA and Cooperativas Agroalimentarias– and the business associations of food distribution and restoration FIAB, Aecoc, ACES, Anged, Asedas, Cedecarne, Fedepesca, Hotelería de Spain and Restoration Brands. These entities, which bring together the entire value chain of the sector, warn that they will not be able to withstand a new interruption in the food chain, and that the risk of shortages in supermarkets is real.
“The food industry can suffer stoppages in its activity if basic products do not reach the factories and, also, experience enormous costs derived from the conservation of food or its loss. The recovery of normal activity can last for several weeks, prolonging the problems of shortages for the population”, they underline in a joint statement.
The protest of carriers in March caused serious problems for producers and supermarket chains. Several factories had to stop their activity because either they could not transport the food, or they did not receive the raw material necessary for its preparation and packaging. Wholesale markets such as Mercamadrid or Mercabarna suffered from a lack of some foods from the south of Spain, where the protest was most virulent. And in some stores, empty shelves were seen in categories such as milk or oil – compulsive buying was added to transportation problems.
All this situation caused "million dollar losses" to the industry, lament the entities. Thus, they have reiterated that a new strike would mean the entry into losses of many operators in the sector, who are barely enduring an unprecedented economic and geopolitical situation.
In this way, the organizations have demanded that the transport sector not subject society "to a new threat" and that they take into consideration "the difficult situation in which this essential sector is that works to guarantee the supply of electricity at all times. food and essential products to the whole society”. This Sunday, in theory, it will be known if unemployment returns to the roads. If so, it would also coincide with the start of the tourist and export season.
