BUENOS AIRES, July 31 (Reuters) - Grain shipments in the Argentine transport hub of Rosario normalized on Monday afternoon after inspectors suspended their hours-long protest following an order from the government, the local chamber of Port and Maritime Activities (CAPyM) and the union said.
The mandatory conciliation order from the government forces the grains inspectors, who had been calling for higher wages, to pause their protest in order to enter negotiations with the companies grain buyers contract to control the quality of shipments.
The parties have 15 days to reach an agreement, the labor ministry said.
The strike had started at midnight local time (0300 GMT) by workers' union URGARA, which represents the grain technicians who analyze grains held in storehouses and loaded on ships, making the inspectors major players in the South American nation's vital grain trade.
The workers had gone on strike without giving an official notice, CAPyM official Guillermo Wade said.
"The grain inspectors have been notified (of the government order) and are returning to their tasks, loading and unloading is normalizing," Wade said.
Argentina is the world's leading exporter of soybean oil and meal and the third-largest exporter of corn, as well as an important global wheat producer.
With annual inflation above 100%, salary negotiations are a frequent source of tension in Argentina, which depends on agricultural exports for much-needed foreign currency as it fights to keep the official peso rate stable and meet the terms of a $44 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires Writing by Kylie Madry Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Grant McCool and Matthew Lewis)
