BRAZIL’S auto and electronics makers face production-line stoppages as a three-week strike by federal tax inspectors delays imports of components and materials.

As many as 100,000 containers and $500 million of goods, mainly electronics and auto parts, are awaiting approval to enter the country at Santos port in Sao Paulo state, said Ricardo Martins, foreign-trade director at the Center of Industries of Sao Paulo State. The value of daily imports fell about 30 percent last week from February, while exports have been less affected, he said.

“The losses are incalculable,” Martins said in a phone interview. “Some manufacturing companies ran out of stocks after 15 working days. Ships waiting at Santos are seeking alternative berthing destinations, even in Argentina, because of a lack of storage space for their cargo.”

About 70 percent of Brazil’s 18,000 tax inspectors have been on strike since mid-March to push for better pay. Workers and the Planning and Budget Ministry are still far from reaching an agreement, according to Unafisco, the union representing striking tax inspectors.

“The strike will go on indefinitely; the government has presented no proposal,” said Aline Matheus, a union spokeswoman in Brasilia. “Santos and Manaus ports are paralyzed, and Santos may collapse because of a lack of space.”

Strategic operations

THE union is making sure a minimum number of workers maintain strategic operations so the strike isn’t declared illegal, she said.

Ciesp, as the Sao Paulo state center of industries is known, obtained an order from a federal judge allowing its members’ imports to be processed, Martins said.

Brazilian aluminum producers have lost about 10 million reais ($5.9 million) because of extra port storage costs and shipment delays, said Augusto Amaral, president of metals trader Soho & Brighton Metals in Sao Paulo and member of the nation’s aluminum association.

The meat unit of Cargill Inc., the largest US agricultural company, is experiencing delays in completing the necessary export paperwork because of the strike, the company’s Sao Paulo-based press office said. (Bloomberg)

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BRAZIL’S auto and electronics makers face production-line stoppages as a three-week strike by federal tax inspectors delays imports of components and materials.