Orange juice producers from Brazil face legal moves from growers, after losing a seven-year battle to clear their names of price fixing.
Brazil’s competition commission, Cade, rejected a £24.2 million settlement offer from the country’s juice exporters’ association Abecitrus. Jubilant orange growers, represented by Associtrus, allege that processors have joined forces to reduce their returns by around £1.7bn in the last 15 years.
When the judgement was made, Associtrus president Flavio Veigas told the Reuters news agency: "It restores faith in the system."
Abecitrus offered to settle the case in August, without accepting liability, and stipulated that 85 per cent of the money would go towards setting up a fund to help small and medium-sized orange growers.
Meanwhile, Abecitrus said October exports of Brazilian orange juice had shown an increase of 23.85 per cent compared with the same month last year. Exports rose from 135,432 tonnes in October 2005 to 167,739t last month.
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