Three companies in Brazil accused of being part of the orange juice cartel

The giants of the trade Orange juice in Brazil, made up of three companies, have become defendants in a class action seeking billions of dollars in damages for an epricing scheme that operated between 1999 and 2006.

Federal prosecutor Karen Kahn said the Sao Paulo Court of Justice will hear claims in a lawsuit filed against firms such as Citrosuco, Cutrale and Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), which account for most of the country’s global orange juice production.

The alleged cartel harmed the citrus growers and was investigated by the antitrust regulator of Brazil, cade. In 2016, the regulator and the companies reached an agreement for a payment of 301 million reais to resolve the case.

The class action lawsuit was filed by prosecutors in March, more than 20 years after the first allegations were made.

Prosecutors are seeking 12.7 billion reais ($2.51 billion) in damages, exceeding the annual revenue from orange juice exports in the 2021/2022 season, which amounted to $1.62 billion.

The lawsuit seeks reparation from the companies that, according to prosecutors, controlled almost 80% of the national production of Orange juiceexcluding about 75% of small and medium-sized businesses in the segment in the state of sao paulo.

In the lawsuit, prosecutors alleged that the cartel’s objective was to cause a sharp drop in fruit prices, causing losses to farmers and consumers.

Citrosuco and Cutrale did not immediately comment, while Cargill declined to comment. (Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Peter Frontini. Editing in Spanish by Marion Giraldo)

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