Argentine Farmers Prepare to Extend Strike, Seek More Support

(Bloomberg) -- Striking Argentine farmers are seeking the support of provincial leaders and lawmakers in a protest against tax increases on grains and may prolong a disruption of agricultural exports.

The governor of Cordoba, Argentina's biggest soybean-growing region, is scheduled to meet today with the farm groups that organized the eight-day strike. Opposition-party members of Congress pledged over the weekend to work toward repealing the new export tax as farmers rallied in cities across the country.

Senator Gerardo Morales of the Radical Civic Union party called on opposition leaders to meet tomorrow to discuss how to get the tax system repealed. The group will try to get 1 million signatures on a petition supporting their effort, Morales said May 10.

A poll by Buenos Aires-based Felipe Noguera Consultores found that 78 percent of Argentines want the government to change the export tax system and 14 percent prefer that the levies remain as they are

Export-tax revenue, including duties on agricultural goods and fuels, more than doubled to 1.5 billion pesos ($472 million) in April from a year earlier, the government reported on May 5.

Full story: Argy Bargy