BRAZILIAN TROOPS TO LEAVE OIL REFINERIES Brazil's labour troubles eased a little today as the authorities announced they were withdrawing troops from the country's main oil installations occupied three days ago. The troops went in at the request of the state-oil company Petrobras because of the threat of a strike by 55,000 oil industry employees. Petrobras said in a statement today it had requested the withdrawal of the troops. The situation in the refineries was calm, it said, and the employees had indicated their willingness to negotiate a pay deal. A national seamen's strike, however, continued and marines remained in the country's main ports. The marines were despatched to the ports after the seamen's strike, now two weeks old, was ruled illegal last Friday. A spokesman at the national strike headquarters in Rio de Janeiro said today a total of l63 ships were strike-bound, 135 in Brazil and 28 in foreign ports. Yesterday two small companies specialised in the transport of chemicals, Global and Flumar, struck a pay accord with their seamen who have secured a 120 pct increase. Brazilian newspapers today hailed these agreements as a sign that the national strike could soon come to an end. Both companies employ fewer than 200 seamen and union leaders said the vast majority of Brazil's 40,000 seamen were still on strike. The threat of a stoppage by oil industry employees appeared today to be receding. Petrobras said in its statement that the company would meet union leaders for pay talks in Rio de Janeiro next Wednesday. Labour Minister Almir Pazzionotto would act as a mediator. Besides industrial troubles, there has also been considerable unrest this week in the agricultural sector. On Tuesday hundreds of thousands of farmers held rallies throughout the country to protest against high interest rates. Television reports showed some of these protests still continuing today, with farmers blockading banks with their vehicles in several towns in the states of Sao Paulo and Parana. The strikes in Brazil come as the government is trying to extricate itself from a serious debt crisis brought on by a deterioration in its trade balance. On February 20 President Jose Sarney announced that Brazil was suspending interest payments on 68 billion dlrs of debt to private banks. Because of the seamen strike exports are being delayed and the country is losing badly needed foreign exchange.