Brazil Anti-Trust Body to Press on with FCOJ Probe
Brazil’s anti-trust watchdog Cade on November 22 rejected an offer by orange juice processors to pay 100 million reais ($46.2 million) to growers in order to drop a price-fixing case. The Brazilian Citrus Exporters Association (Abecitrus) put forth the proposal in July to settle a 1999 complaint by orange growers who said artificially low prices had cost them nearly $3 billion in losses over 15 years.
“Cade unanimously rejected the proposal to sign the agreement,” a Cade spokeswoman said of the decision, which favors orange growers. In a statement, Cade later said, “After this decision the case returns to the SDE (the Justice Ministry’s Secretariat of Economic Rights) to continue the administrative process.”
Abecitrus, which accounts for about 80% of the world frozen concentrated orange juice exports (FCOJ), has always denied the existence of a price cartel. Orange growers were estatic.
“It’s a fantastic decision,” Flavio Viegas, president of the Association of Brazilian Citrus Growers (Associtrus), told Reuters by phone from Brazil. “It restores faith in the system.”Viegas said that Cade’s seven advisors, who had previously backed the draft deal, changed their stance after reading a report by the federal government prosecutor. In a statement, Abecitrus said that it was studying the outcome and would take “all necessary steps” when the decision is officially published.
Abecitrus President Admerval Garcia was traveling and could not be reached for comment, an Abecitrus spokesman said. Apart from Abecitrus, the following orange processors were cited in the Cade statement: Bascitrus Agroindustria, Cambuhy Citrus, Cargill Agricola, Citrosuco Paulista, Frutax, Sucocitrico Cutrale, Grupo Montecitrus, Citrovita, Coinbra-Frutesp and CTM Citrus.
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