June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Argentine food stores and gas stations may run short of supplies today as truckers, blocking highways to protest business lost to a farm strike, shut down the nation's road transport system, industry officials said.

Cargo truck drivers are stopping traffic on routes in the agricultural provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba and Entre Rios as they demand the government settle a three-month- old conflict with farmers that has cut shipping and reduced their income. Growers seeking to roll back a new export tax regime have refused to sell newly harvested soybeans and corn.

``The impossibility of moving goods on the country's roads forces us to raise an alarm about the consequences for food businesses,'' the Buenos-Aires based Coordinator of Food Industries said in an e-mail statement. ``If the logistical problems aren't solved, shortages will occur within hours.''

Truckers are caught between the government's demand for a variable export tax on grains and oilseeds, unveiled by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on March 11, and farmers' refusal to ship products under the new regime. The resulting falloff in cargo has undermined the drivers' earnings. The teamsters are insisting the two sides somehow settle their differences.

Fuel Supply

The government sought to ease the conflict yesterday by authorizing wheat exporters to ship 1 million metric tons that officials held back for the domestic market to keep down prices and ensure adequate supply. Half the permitted shipments will be destined for neighboring Brazil, Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez said last night.

``We want to work,'' the Argentine Federation of Cargo Truck Companies said in a paid statement in La Nacion newspaper today. ``Our inability to operate has reduced activity or brought it to a halt, causing an immeasurable financial and economic crisis.''

Gas stations in rural provinces hit by blockades will run out of fuel later today, Marcelo Rovasio, president of the confederation of gas stations, known as Cecha, said in a telephone interview in Rosario, Argentina.

A nationwide shortage will begin June 16, he said.

``This is going to get worse,'' Rovasio said today. ``On either Monday or Tuesday we will wake up without fuel.''

Planning Minister Julio De Vido said the government has taken all necessary measures to prevent fuel shortages in the country, newspaper InfoBae.com reported.

Price Run-Up

``The government remains reluctant to open negotiations with farmers, and will likely rely on making unilateral decisions to try to decompress the situation,'' said Daniel Kerner, an analyst at the Eurasia Group in New York in an e-mail statement. ``However, it will come under increasing pressure to take more decisive actions, especially if shortages intensify.''

Supermarkets and retailers are already running out of some foodstuffs -- shortages that are sparking a run-up in prices, said Susana Andrada, director of the Buenos Aires-based Center for the Education of Consumers, a consumer defense group.

``It's getting more serious by the day,'' she said in a telephone interview. ``Prices of flour, pasta and cookies have risen about 30 percent during the past month.''

Bakeries are getting at most three bags of flour a day, down from the normal 10, Jose Alvarez, president of Chamber of Bakers, said in interview with Todo Noticias television channel. Bakers will decide in the next two days whether to call a strike as thousands of jobs are at risk, he said.

`Deeply Concerned'

Many flour mills are without any wheat supplies, which is creating a bread shortage, the Argentine Milling Industry Federation said in an e-mailed statement.

Argentina's Industrial Union, a national trade group representing steelmakers and automakers, called for talks to resolve the conflict. The group's members, which include ArcelorMittal, Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat SpA, are ``deeply concerned'' about interruptions in the supply of raw materials and finished products, the union said in an e- mailed statement today.

The country's consumer price index rose 9.1 percent in May from the same month a year earlier, according to the National Statistics Institute. Alfonso Prat-Gay, former president of the country's central bank, said June 10 that the real annual inflation quickened to 32 percent, based on provincial statistics.

Since former President Nestor Kirchner replaced officials in charge of the index in January 2007, the institute's statistics have been questioned as economists and opposition lawmakers said the data has been manipulated. Kirchner has defended the changes saying they were to ``improve operations.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires eraszewski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 12, 2008 18:47 EDT