April 6 (Reuters) – Giants of the orange juice commerce in Brazil have turn out to be defendants in a class-action lawsuit looking for $2.5 billion in damages over an alleged scheme to repair costs between 1999 and 2006, a prosecutor advised Reuters.
Federal Prosecutor Karen Kahn stated the Sao Paulo Courtroom of Justice will hear claims in a lawsuit filed in opposition to companies together with Citrosuco, Cutrale and Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC), which account for a lot of the world’s orange juice output.
Citrus growers alleged that the businesses fashioned a cartel to maintain costs low for his or her fruit. Brazil’s antitrust regulator Cade investigated, and in 2016, the watchdog and corporations reached an settlement for a cost of 301 million reais to settle the case.
The category-action lawsuit was filed by the prosecutors in March, greater than 20 years after the primary accusations have been made.
Prosecutors are looking for 12.7 billion reais ($2.51 billion) in damages, exceeding annual income from orange juice exports within the 2021/2022 season, which totaled $1.62 billion.
The go well with seeks reparation from the businesses that prosecutors say dominated nearly 80% of home orange juice manufacturing, excluding round 75% of the small and medium-sized companies within the section in Sao Paulo state alone.
Within the lawsuit, prosecutors alleged the objective of the cartel was to trigger a steep drop in fruit costs, inflicting losses on the farmers and customers.
Louis Dreyfus Co stated it was not formally notified of the lawsuit and denied wrongdoing, saying it complies with all relevant legal guidelines and laws within the international locations the place it operates.
Citrosuco advised Reuters it has not been notified concerning the lawsuit and wouldn’t remark.
Cutrale didn’t remark instantly. Cargill declined to remark at the moment.
The claims additionally implicate Cargill, which bought operations to Cutrale and Citrosuco in 2004, and Citrovita, which merged with Citrosuco in a deal authorized by regulators in 2011, in line with the prosecutor.
Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Peter Frontini
Enhancing by Ana Mano, Leslie Adler and David Gregorio
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