Argentina Grains Inspectors Start Strike; 'No Impact' at Ports

Argentina's grains inspectors began a 24-hour strike on Monday demanding bonus payments, but port activity and shipments of farm products were not affected in the South American country, the top global exporter of processed soybeans.

Juan Carlos Peralta, press secretary of the URGARA union, said there was strong compliance with the strike action and that on Monday afternoon the union would hold another assembly to decide whether to extend the strike.

"We will continue with the measure if we do not have an answer," Peralta said.

Strike action by URGARA, which brings together technical workers who inspect grains stored in stockpiles and loaded on ships, can disrupt international trade of grains from the major exporter of soy, corn and beef.

However, the current strike is only impacting non-port grains storage centers, mainly hitting the trucks that take grain to river and marine terminals. Grains exporting firms in the ports have reserves to keep operating for several days.

"In the ports everything is calm, there is no impact of the measure," Guillermo Wade, manager of the Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities (CAPyM), told Reuters.

The current strike comes during a period of low agricultural exports in Argentina. The wheat harvest ended in January and the soybean and corn harvests remain months away.

(Reuters - Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Diane Craft)