In Brazil, the biggest orange juice companies have been sued in a class action lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages after they were suspected of involvement in a cartel that operated between 1999 and 2006 . On this subject informed Reuters, citing Federal Prosecutor Karen Kahn.
According to her, the Sao Paulo court will consider proceedings against the “giants” Citrosuco, Cutrale and Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC), which represent the bulk of the world’s production of orange juice. Brazilian antitrust regulator Cade conducted an investigation, which concluded that the three companies had colluded to manipulate prices.
In 2016, the supervisory authority, Citrosuco, Cutrale and LDC reached an agreement to pay 301 million reais as part of the settlement of claims. In March 2023 – more than 20 years after the first allegations – Brazilian prosecutors filed a class action lawsuit against the same companies seeking 12.7 billion reais ($2.51 billion) in damages. This exceeds the annual orange juice export revenue for the 2021/2022 season – $1.62 billion.
According to the lawsuit, Brazil’s federal prosecutor’s office is seeking damages from companies it says dominated nearly 80% of the nation’s orange juice production, hurting about 75% of small and medium-sized businesses in the segment. in the state of São Paulo alone. . The prosecutor’s office also alleges in its lawsuit that the cartel’s goal was to drastically lower fruit prices, causing losses to farmers and consumers.
Louis Dreyfus Co said it was not officially notified of the lawsuit and denied any wrongdoing. The company representative assured that it complies with all laws and regulations in the countries where it operates. Citrosuco and Cutrale have yet to comment on the lawsuit, while Cargill declined to comment.
According to the prosecutor, Cargill became the target of lawsuits because in 2004 it sold part of its business to Cutrale, Citrosuco and Citrovita, which merged with Citrosuco in 2011.
