Argentina must collect tolls on a crucial waterway as a multi-nation conflict over fees for ships carrying grains and other exports intensifies, according to the country’s energy chief.
As informed, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay are urging Argentina to stop applying the tolls, arguing they restrict navigation on South America’s mighty Paraguay-Parana rivers.
Furthermore, Argentine authorities say tolls on the Paraguay-Parana waterway, a key transport route to the sea for inland areas of Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil, are needed to maintain the 3,400 km (2,110 mile) channel that ends at Buenos Aires.
According to Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay, Argentina’s decision to seize a barge from Mercurio Group, is unilateral and arbitrary.
As explained, its actions could affect supply and prices.
Argentina said that the Parana is used by Argentina to transport its own significant farm exports, including processed soybeans, maize and wheat.
However, the country recently saw its main cash-crops battered by drought, and has imported over 7 million metric tons of soybeans in the first seven months of this year, around half from Paraguay and most of the rest from Brazil, according to official data.
