Bogota, Aug 11 - Colombia coffee inventories at port were very low on Monday as a truck strike entered its 12th day with little sign that the government and protesters were close to reaching a deal, the top exporting group said.
Coffee shipments from the world's No. 3 producer have been slowed as producers struggle to transport Arabica beans from growing regions to ports on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.
The National Federation of Coffee Growers -- supplying 30 percent of exports -- says 30,000 60-kilogram sacks a day have been halted and the Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters says exports will be slashed without a swift solution.
"This is becoming very worrying," said association head Jorge Lozano. "We are starting to notice a real paralysis because there is very little at the ports. If coffee does not get to port this week, it will be very serious."
He did not specify when shipments from the association -- which provides 70 percent of coffee exports -- would be completely halted because of the strike.
Traders said Colombia's truck strike combined with producers in top grower Brazil sitting on the sidelines meant a lack of origin selling, which allowed the coffee market to move higher on Monday.
The December arabica contract ended Monday up 10 cents at $1.398 a lb.
President Alvaro Uribe has ordered soldiers to escort truck drivers still working to make deliveries inside Colombia after the government warned the strike could begin to impact food supplies and drive up the country's consumer prices.
The Colombian Truckers Association, known as the ACC, is calling for better freight payments, help offsetting costs such as tolls and replacing old vehicles, and more control on the number of trucks on the roads.
The ACC and transport ministry said no direct talks were scheduled over the protest.
But representatives of the government, including the transport ministry, and the truck association have been called to a meeting on Tuesday with a group of legislators in a Senate subcommittee to discuss the strike.