Brazilian truckers weigh strike as diesel prices jump amid Middle East conflict

SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) – Truck drivers’ unions in Brazil are advocating for a strike as early as this week after the recent jump in diesel prices due to the conflict in the Middle East, a union head said on Tuesday.

A truckers’ strike could have dire consequences for Brazil, if it is widespread, as the country is heavily reliant on the drivers to transport products across the country and into ports.

In 2018, a massive truckers’ strike brought the country to a halt for about 10 days with numerous road blockades. As diesel prices surge, calls for a strike have taken shape, but without clear dates or any signal of the adherence level.

“It’s a fight for survival,” Wallace Landim, head of truckers’ union Abrava told Reuters in an interview, adding a strike could kick off this week.

The average price of S-10 diesel, the most widely sold type in Brazil, has risen around 19% nationwide since February 28, when the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran began and lifted global oil prices, data from payments firm ValeCard showed on Tuesday.

It is not the first time since 2018 that drivers have attempted a wide strike, but Landim said past attempts were politically driven while now truck drivers are feeling “the same pain we felt in 2018.”

In a bid to soften the impact of higher global oil prices on consumers, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government scrapped taxes on diesel last week, and Brazil’s oil regulator launched an operation to combat fuel price gouging.

But it is unclear whether the government’s efforts will be enough to prevent truck drivers from turning off their vehicles.

“Truck drivers are at their limit,” said Carlos Alberto, a director at CNTTL, a transport workers’ union, in a statement.

(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Jamie Freed)