Cresta Roja protests end after violent confrontation

A peaceful resolution has been reached after violence broke out between employees of bankrupt Argentine poultry company Cresta Roja de Grupo Rasic and government security forces.
On December 22, there was a violent confrontation outside of Buenos Aires between the poultry company’s workers, leftist activists and security forces after the groups blocked access to Ezeiza International Airport, the Argentine capitol’s airport. The motive for the blockade is the reclamation of the workers jobs, in what seems to be the first social conflict for the new government of President Mauricio Macri.
According to published reports from various Latin American newspapers, the incidents began when the gendarmerie, fulfilling a judicial order, advanced on hundreds of protesters that blocked the flow of traffic on the highway connecting the city to the airport located about 40 kilometers southeast of Buenos Aires.
For days, the Cresta Roja workers had been demanding back pay and governmental assistance to stop the closure of the company and the loss of more than 3,000 of its workers’ jobs.
The gendarmerie attacked with rubber bullets and military trucks equipped with water cannons and the demonstrators threw back rocks and sticks. At least one of the workers was arrested and some were wounded.
According to the protesters, the order to advance came from Macri. The incidents possibly originated from the new, center-right government’s announcement that is meeting to develop a special protocol for controlling protests, especially to avoid roadblocks on streets and highways – a popular way for dissatisfied groups to protest in Argentina. This in itself has generated criticism from union and social leaders.
Macri, formerly the head of Buenos Aires’ provincial government, was elected president in late November and took office on December 10. He succeeds the twelve-year-long leadership of President Néstor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and is the South American nation’s first non-Peronist president since 1916.
Newspaper reports from Buenos Aires indicate Macri’s government and the protesters reached a temporary agreement to end protests near the airport. The Buenos Aires Herald reports, workers will continue to collect government subsidies, Cresta Roja is now formally bankrupt and authorities are looking for a potential buyer for the company.
The crisis of Cresta Roja’s downfall is not new. According to Watt Global Media’s news archives, until 2014 Rasic was the second largest poultry company in Argentina. Cresta Roja enjoyed good times in the middle of the last decade thanks to commercial exchange agreements with Hugo Chavez’s government in Venezuela which swapped raw materials for oil. The company began its fall in 2013. Some connect this with the lack of corresponding payments for the sales to Venezuela. In 2014, Cresta Roja suspended its operations, and later the provincial government of Buenos Aires intervened to provide partial payment of the company’s salaries.
According to newspaper reports, the conflict was revived with the changes in the provincial and national governments in December. Additionally, Cresta Roja’s executives were advised to pay their debts or sell the company.

Argentina farmers halt crop sales to protest policies

Argentina’s farmers halted crop sales for three days, March 11-13, to protest leftist interventionist government policies they say erode their profits, according to a report. Three out of four of the largest farming groups in Argentina took part in the strike, aimed at reducing the delivery of grains to port.
"The halt to sales is widespread throughout the country," said Luis Etchevehere, president of the Argentine Rural Society. "We're demonstrating against government policymaking over the last 12 years that just hasn't worked."
Argentina imposes export quotas on wheat and corn in order to guarantee strong local supplies and keep consumer prices low. It also levies a 35 percent tax on soybean exports, which farmers say kills their profits.
Farmers threatened to continue protests if the government did not respond. They pledge to make their grievances known ahead of October’s presidential election. Relations between farmers and President Cristina Fernandez have been strained since a widespread farmers rebellion in 2008.
"This is not a strike," said Fernandez's cabinet chief, Anibal Fernandez. "It is a lockout by bosses who handle a certain level of production."
Argentina is the world’s top soymeal exporter and a major source of corn and wheat for world markets. Exports were unlikely to be affected during the strike because there was an ample amount of reserves in storage.

Poultry production in Argentina to increase 50 percent by decade end

Argentinian poultry production is forecast to reach 3 million tons by 2020 up from 1.9 million tons in 2012, says the country's Industry Ministry.
Poultry meat exports from Argentina are expected to grow from 2012's value of US$530 million to US$2.475 billion over the same period, while per capita consumption is expected to increase for 40 kg to 50 kg.
Since 2003, Argentina's poultry production has grown by 170 percent, or 12 percent per year, while consumption per head has risen by 116 percent. In 2012, the country's poultry meat exports increased by 23 percent and have grown on average by 36 percent year on year since 2003. 

Argentina aims to be fourth-largest poultry producer

Argentina, the sixth-largest global exporter of poultry meat, is on track to become the fourth-largest exporter in a few years' time, according to Industry Minister Debora Giorgi.
Argentina has already exported 356,000 metric tons of poultry in 2012. The country's production has tripled since 2003 and export values have increased tenfold, from US$65 million to $US650 million.
The forum on Argentina's Poultry Industry Strategic Plan 2020 plans to reach a domestic poultry meat consumption of 50 kilograms per capita per year, producing 3.1 million metric tons — 91 percent more than in 2010. The industry is also looking to generate 50,000 jobs and export 600,000 metric tons per year.