STRIKES are set to continue in Brazil despite a government offer to settle a dispute over high diesel prices which has seen protesting truck drivers block roads for five days.

Under the deal announced on Wednesday, protests would be halted for 15 days and fuel taxes scrapped, with government subsidies used to maintain a 10 per cent reduction in pump prices.

However, the Brazilian Association of Truckers — representing 700,000 of the country’s one million drivers — walked out of the talks, pledging to continue the strikes.

The stoppages have spread to at least 23 out of Brazil’s 26 states, grounding flights cancelled and closing schools. Fast food chain McDonald’s warned that it is running out of menu items.

Roads have been blocked across Brazil, with long queues forming at petrol stations. Shortages of basic goods have been reported across the country as people stock up on bread and water. 

Fruit and vegetable prices have shot up by as much as 400 per cent in some areas due to the shortages.

Supermarkets have limited the amount people can buy and bosses told some workers to take the day off yesterday as the crisis escalated.

Oil prices have almost doubled since Michel Temer’s coup-administration ousted president Dilma Rouseff in 2016.

His decision to allow state-owned oil giant Petrobas autonomy over its pricing, coupled with a rise in global oil prices, caused fuel costs to spiral.

The temporary deal struck between the government and haulage firms was welcomed by Petrobas, which said in a statement it was a “highly positive and an unquestionable gain for the company.”