Spain: Serious soybean and corn shortage problems in Catalonia and Aragon due to the covert strike at the Port of Tarragona

The existing labor dispute in the Port of Tarragona, caused by the liberalization of port stowage, has reached a critical limit in the supply of raw materials for the manufacture of feed in the areas of Catalonia and Aragon. Unfortunately, the covert longshoremen's strike that began in May has materialized in a drop in the rate of unloading that has dropped dramatically to 20 per cent of the normal figure. This fact has negatively affected the supply of corn, soybean meal and other ingredients intended for human and animal feed, and the most direct consequences are being: The system - farms, feed manufacturers, flour producers, importers - has had an extra cost of 7 million euros. More than 500,000 tons of merchandise that were going to be unloaded in the port of Tarragona, have been diverted to other ports with the increase in costs and logistical difficulties involved in supplying merchandise from other points. There is a clear danger of shortages in Catalonia and Aragon, which ...