RIO DE JANEIRO, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The economic losses caused by truckers's long strike across Brazil since Monday have already exceeded 10.2 billion reais (2.8 billion U.S. dollars), according to initial estimates from various sectors.
Published on Sunday by the daily, Folha de Sao Paulo, the number is more than double the 5 billion reais (1.37 billion) U.S. dollars the government has unblocked to cover the losses.
The president of the Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry (CBIC), Jose Carlos Martins, said that 40 percent of the sector's activities had been affected by the strike, jeopardizing 2.4 billion reais (657 million U.S. dollars) of business.
In the poultry and pork sector, losses have been estimated at around 1.8 billion reais (493 million U.S. dollars) in the first five days of the strike.
The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) said this number includes both losses on the internal market and exports. "Each day chickens are dying and eggs are not being born. Over 50 million birds have already died," it said.
In the cattle industry, export losses have been estimated at 620 million reais (170 million U.S. dollars), although this could rise in coming days, as animals begin to run out of food.
Milk producers have announced losses of 1.1 billion reais (300 million U.S. dollars) with 95 million liters of milk being lost every day. The pharmaceutical sector has reported losses of 1 billion reais (275 million U.S. dollars) and the automotive sector has declared 1.3 billion reais (355 million U.S. dollars) of losses due to factories shutting down for a lack of parts.
Electronics, airlines, coffee producers and garment workers have also seen losses in the millions.
The truckers have been protested all week against a rise in fuel prices. On Friday, President Michel Temer called out the army and police to clear the blockades but many remained on Sunday.
Supermarkets have been running out of food, medication is out of stock in pharmacies and service stations are out of fuel, paralyzing Latin America's largest economy.
