Bogota, Aug 1 - Thirty percent of Colombian coffee exports were halted by a truckers' strike on Friday, the growers' federation said while the country's main exporting group said its shipments will not be slowed for days to come.
"The effects are immediate," said a statement issued by the National Federation of Coffee Growers, whose members account for 30 percent of Colombia's coffee exports. The truck drivers' strike started on Thursday.
The Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's exports, said earlier on Friday that its shipments will not be interrupted unless the strike lasts eight days or more.
The growers' federation sends coffee primarily to European and Asian buyers while the exporters' group sells mainly to the United States, the world's top consumer Colombian beans.
At least 100,000 60-kilogram sacks that were expected to be exported this weekend will stay in the country if the strike is not ended, the growers' statement said.
Colombia, a prime source of prized arabica beans, is the world's third biggest coffee exporter after Brazil and Vietnam.
The market was given a boost from the strike. The price of the benchmark September arabica contract in New York increased 0.80 cent to close at $1.4015 a lb.
Truckers say the government of President Alvaro Uribe has not enforced the terms of a deal reached last month aimed at improving freight payment rates and other conditions.
Transportation Minister Andres Gallego said talks were progressing. The truckers, who haul beans from Colombia's central coffee-growing region to the country's Pacific and Caribbean ports, say their strike is open-ended.
"We ask the government and the truck drivers to resolve the work stoppage quickly ... with a deal that does not include an increase in shipping rates," the growers' federation said.
Colombia, the country that sends beans personified by Juan Valdez and his mule Conchita to kitchens around the world, exported 5.8 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee in the first half of this year.
Over a half million Colombian families depend on the industry for their livelihoods.