MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia's fuel shortage crisis deepens

Bolivia has trouble importing fuel, which in turn brings losses to the agricultural industry in times of harvest

The Bolivian department of Santa Cruz is experiencing a crisis caused by a severe diesel shortage, which has led to blockades and threats of strikes. Farmers in Concepción and Yapacaní have blocked key highways connecting Santa Cruz with other regions, protesting the lack of fuel that threatens their summer harvest of crops like soybeans, corn, and rice. These blockades have disrupted trade routes and prompted warnings of further protests in other towns like San Carlos and Portachuelo.

The state-owned Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) has been blamed for the shortage, which has also impacted public transport, with only 35-50% of services functional. Operators have issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government, demanding direct talks and threatening an indefinite strike if the crisis persists. The diesel scarcity is causing significant economic losses, including international transport contracts.

Hydrocarbons Minister Alejandro Gallardo acknowledged challenges in importing fuel due to foreign currency shortages and proposed selling diesel at international prices to productive sectors. “Currently, we are operating with volumes lower than those foreseen in our demand program, which prevents us from complying 100% with the supply in the different sectors,” Gallardo explained.

However, the Multisectoral Committee, represented by Klaus Frerking of the Agricultural Chamber of the East (CAO), warned that this would increase costs across the supply chain, potentially raising food prices and threatening food security.

Key Bolivian transport players demand 3.3 million liters of diesel daily for Santa Cruz’s economy and call for deregulating fuel imports and commercialization to resolve the crisis.

Bismark Daza, leader of the November 16 Transport Federation, denounced that only between 35% and 40% of urban transport was operating, while the intermunicipal and interdepartmental service faces a critical situation, with only 40% to 50% of operation. “There is no diesel in any pump at the moment. Today we woke up with a total shortage,” Daza said in a radio interview. He explained that the lack of fuel also affects the 56 municipalities of the department, impacting farmers and producers.

“We hope that, between today and tomorrow, the authorities will meet with us to find a solution because the situation is getting worse,” Daza also warned as he criticized the lack of concrete answers. “We are losing contracts as a country,” he also warned. “The government must provide an urgent solution. This is getting out of control”, emphasized Daza.

”The authorities indicate that from the date Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) will commercialize diesel at international price, this implies an elevation in all the costs of the supply chain that we are currently present,“ Frerking said in a press conference.

Santa Cruz is entering the largest harvest in Bolivia, but, according to Frerking, only 700,000 liters of diesel per day enter the sector, that is, about 20 to 25 trucks. ”Santa Cruz needs for the entire supply chain 3.3 million liters of diesel per day. That is what they have to deliver to us, the timely diesel to keep the economy turning,“ he insisted. With the high cost of fuels, ”prices will go up, the family basket will rise, the price of inputs will rise.“

”Eliminate diesel and gasoline from the list of controlled substances so that extortions are ended,” he further demanded.