Bogota, April 29 - A week-long Colombian truckers' strike has reduced the amount of coffee getting to port for shipment overseas, the country's top exporters' group said on Tuesday.
As drivers' union officials sat down for talks with the government aimed at ending the work stoppage, the amount of coffee being hauled to port slowed to a trickle, said Jorge Lozano, head of the Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters.
"The situation is getting difficult," Lozano told Reuters.
He said Colombia's main port, in the Pacific coast city of Buenaventura, received 12 truckloads of coffee on Monday but only four on Tuesday. Normally, the port receives 30 to 40 truckloads per day.
"The same thing is happening in the (Atlantic coast) port of Cartagena. It is tightening up all around," Lozano said.
The truck drivers want lower fuel prices and enforcement of a previous deal to increase hauling rates. They were in a second day of closed-door talks with transportation ministry officials on Tuesday.
"The negotiations are advancing," a ministry spokesman said.
Colombia is the world's third biggest coffee producer after Brazil and Vietnam. But shortages caused by heavy rains and a renovation program to replace old coffee trees with new ones have trimmed production in the Andean country.