Tag: Brazil

  • Tobacco Theft Down in Brazil

    Tobacco Theft Down in Brazil

    Photo: Souza Cruz

    A program to prevent container theft in southern Brazil is proving successful, according to the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union, SindiTabaco.

    In 2019, the sector recorded 26 thefts throughout the region; in 2022, there were only eight, and only one of these occurrences took place in Rio Grande do Sul, the center of Brazil’s cigarette tobacco industry.

    In 2023, the industry lost six containers to theft, including four raw tobacco cargoes and two containers with processed tobacco for export.

    Iro Schuenke

    During a Dec. 12 meeting with public security officials, SindiTabaco president Iro Schuenke urged stakeholders to remain vigilant as movements of containers intensify during the next months.

    Thieves are increasingly targeting processed tobacco, he noted, citing recent thefts of cargos heading to the port of Rio Grande.

    During the meeting, participants discussed theft-prevention measures such as increased police escorts, traveling in truck convoys and predetermining stops for drivers.

    Tobacco exporters and shippers, meanwhile, are evaluating ways to reduce the time it takes for the containers to arrive at the port, so as to avoid, for example, evening transportation.

    “If evening transportation is absolutely necessary, the companies can previously contact the security organs asking for an escort to accompany the truck”, said Regional Police Chief Officer Luciano Fernandes Menezes.

    To help tobacco shippers improve security, SindiTabaco has prepared an information leaflet with best practices.

  • Excessive Rains Torment Brazilian Crops

    Excessive Rains Torment Brazilian Crops

    Photo: Ronaldo Almeida

    The tobacco-growing areas in southern Brazil have been severely affected by adverse weather, according to a crop update provided by Kohltrade. In addition to hail, tobacco farmers have had to cope with excessive rains this season, causing plant roots to drown and leaves to develop spots.

    Farmers were forced to harvest wet fields. Limited curing capacity will likely produce a higher percentage of mahoganies this season.

    Despite an increased planted area, the average flue-cured Virginia (FCV) crop yield in the three southern states is estimated to be 20.5 percent lower compared than in a typical year.

    Since weather patterns are not expected to change during the Brazilian summer, industry experts expect the total green FCV volume to be around 475 million kg.

    The same weather conditions are forcing air cured burley farmers to collect and hang underdeveloped plants. Many farmers are reporting rotting leaves.

    The negative impact on green volume is more than 20 percent, and Brazil is expected to produce around 39 million kg of burley this year. Lower yields will likely affect factory performance as well.

    Small traders are already purchasing the new crop at inflated prices. The overall quality of the low stalk is poor due to the high inclusion of house-burned and unseparated leaves.

    Historically, Brazilian rainy crops result in good-quality upper stalks, however. Alkaloid tests in early areas are showing lower nicotine levels, as expected.

    In December, some companies began purchasing FCVs, while others began purchasing burleys as early as November. Farmer associations predict an increase in the cost of green product of more than 10 percent.

  • Brazil: Over 500 Packs of Cigarettes Seized

    Brazil: Over 500 Packs of Cigarettes Seized

    Image: AlfRibeiro

    Brazilian military police seized a shipment of over 500 packs of cigarettes in the municipality of Novo Santo Antonio, reports Diario de Cuiaba. Over BRL2,300 ($466.09) in cash, checks, lighters and electronic cigarettes was collected. Two were arrested.

    During a roadblock, the suspect fled at high speed and was subsequently detained. The driver then admitted to carrying a shipment of cigarettes and other devices without a receipt. He also admitted to carrying packs of cigarettes from Paraguay and checks worth BRL6,700.

    The illicit products were found under the passenger floor mat.

  • Brazil Busts Fake Cigarette Network

    Brazil Busts Fake Cigarette Network

    Photo: Policia Federal

    Brazil’s Federal Police cracked down on a criminal network trafficking fake Paraguayan cigarette brands in Minas Gerais state, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Law enforcement agents reportedly issued multiple arrest warrants and froze more than $4 million in assets.

    The suspects face charges of smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking, slave labor, forgery, misuse of machinery, crime against consumer relations, crime against trademark registrations and money laundering.

    Led by a businessman from Sao Paulo, the organization forced Paraguayan nationals to make the cigarettes in hidden factories. The group reportedly picked up workers in Paraguay, blindfolded them, and drove them east across the border into Brazil, where they were  held under surveillance inside the factories for several months. Their telephones were confiscated and they had no contact with the outside world.

    The workers produced counterfeit versions of Paraguayan brands, such as the Tabesa’s TE, Eight and Palermo. Once finished, the cigarettes were transported in trucks, hidden behind shoes.

    Paraguay is a major contraband hub in South America. More than 97 percent of cigarettes produced in Paraguay end up in countries such as Brazil. The business is also entangled with money laundering, political corruption and criminal gang activities.

    In March of this year, the OCCRP reported on the rescue of 19 Paraguayans trapped in an illegal cigarette factory in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil rescued 918 people working as slaves in the first three months of this year.

  • Meeting Fails to Ease Growers’ COP Fears

    Meeting Fails to Ease Growers’ COP Fears

    Photo: SindiTabaco

    Tobacco growers representatives are unlikely to be admitted to the November meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Panama, according to Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, who leads Brazil’s National Commission on the Implementation of the FCTC.

    Speaking during a round table in Brasília promoted by the House of Representatives. Costa e Silva said the COP has a strict policy of denying access to those who have a conflict of interest. “The secretariat, based at the WHO headquarters, has the credentials to deny participation if some kind of relationship with the industry is at stake,” she explained.

    Costa e Silva also insisted that the FCTC does not mention actions that will directly impact the supply chain, but industry representatives participating in the Brasilia meeting weren’t buying it. “Today were told […] that there has never been any attempt to endanger the production of tobacco, but we know that this is not true,” said Iro Schunke, president of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union, in a statement.

    He pointed to actions in what he described as a methodical battle against the production of tobacco in Brazil. “They accuse the sector of deforestation, but it is the segment that has the biggest forest areas,” said Schunke. He also countered allegations of tobacco farmer vulnerability, pointing to recent research suggesting that tobacco farmers earn up to twice the national average income.  

    Despite concerns about global demand, Brazilian tobacco production and exports have been stable, Schunke noted. Farmers in southern Brazil have planted enough tobacco to harvest 604.73 million kg in 2023—7.95 percent more than in 2022, according to the country’s tobacco growers’ association, Afubra.

  • Survey: Tobacco Grower Relatively Wealthy

    Survey: Tobacco Grower Relatively Wealthy

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco farmers in southern Brazil earn an average monthly income of BRL3,935.40 ($785.08) from their crops, according to new research conducted by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul at the request of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco).

    By comparison, the average per capita income in Brazil was BRL1,625 in 2022, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Taking into account all sources of income, the tobacco farmers in southern Brazil earn an average monthly income of BRL11,755.30. Seventy-three percent of tobacco farmers in the region have additional income sources, which may include earnings from the cultivation of other crops, land leases or financial investments.

    Nearly 73 percent of the tobacco farmers live in masonry houses; nearly 72 percent have three or more bedrooms per household; and all households have at least one bathroom or toilet, according to the study. Almost all households (98.6 percent) have access to electrical energy, via national power grid, while practically 100 percent have heated water.

    The results come as no surprise to those who know the tobacco sector, but they could come as a surprise to those who still believe in information based on ideology.

    Iro Schuenke, president, SindiTabaco

    One hundred percent of the tobacco farmers surveyed had an automobile, while 137 percent owned a property in addition to their home.

    Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed have more than eight years of schooling, meaning they have competed their elementary education, or more; among them, 32.2 percent have more than 11 years of schooling, corresponding to high school, and some have taken college courses.

    Conducted June 30-July 20, 2023, the survey covered 37 municipalities in the tobacco growing states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana.

    According to SindiTabaco President Iro Schuenke, the results reaffirm the economic and social importance of tobacco in rural areas. “At several moments we have heard that the tobacco farmers endure vulnerability conditions, but the research destroys this tale,” he said in a statement. “Just like in 2016 [when the previous survey took place], the results come as no surprise to those who know the tobacco sector, but they could come as a surprise to those who still believe in information based on ideology,” Schuenke said.

  • Brazilian Stakeholders Speak Up for Tobacco

    Brazilian Stakeholders Speak Up for Tobacco

    Photo: SindiTabaco

    Industry representatives stressed the importance of considering tobacco growers viewpoints in the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which is scheduled to take place Nov. 20-25 in Panama City.

    During a panel discussion at the Expointer 2023 agricultural and livestock exposition in Esteio, Rio Grande do Sul, which concluded Sept 3, experts highlighted the economic significance of the tobacco industry to Brazil in general and the country’s southern provinces in particular.

    “We have almost 600,000 people living directly from the crop,” said Marcilio Drescher, president  of the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association, Afubra, according to a SindiFumo report.

    “On average, 51 percent of our income comes from tobacco and is supplemented by diversification. The average property is 10.5 hectares. Farmers support their families on this small area of land and use an average of just 3.29 hectares for tobacco. A small area under tobacco provides an excellent income combined with diversification. In the last harvest, the farmer’s gross income reached BRL88,000 [$17,859] per capita per family, on average, and there’s also the income from diversification,” he said.

    The topic of diversification is likely to feature prominently during the COP discussion, given that the FCTC encourages countries to move tobacco farmers into other crops. While supporting agricultural diversification, participants in the Expointer panel discussion lamented the exclusion from the discussions of those most impacted by COP decisions. “We cannot have a discussion on producer diversification without involving the primary stakeholders,” said one panelist.

    Rio Grande do Sul’s secretary for economic development, Ernani Polo, stressed his government’s commitment to protecting the tobacco sector.  “We know that the industries and the sector are working hard to diversify, but tobacco production is still what keeps producers in the countryside,” he said.

    The event was also attended by Iro Schunke, president of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union; Vinicius Pegoraro, the president of the Association of Tobacco Producing Municipalities; Giuseppe Lobo, executive manager of the Brazilian Tobacco Industry Association; and Gualter Batista Júnior, the president of the Federation of Tobacco Industry Workers and the Santa Cruz do Sul and Region Tobacco and Food Industry Workers Union.

  • Top Court Poised to Rebuff Land Claim Cutoff Date

    Top Court Poised to Rebuff Land Claim Cutoff Date

    Photo: alexlmx

    Brazil’s Supreme Court is likely to rule against attempts by the country’s farm lobby to limit land claims by indigenous peoples to areas they occupied before 1988, according to Reuters.

    The case stems from a dispute in Santa Catarina state where the government rejected a land claim by the Xokleng people, who were evicted by tobacco farmers from what was their ancestral land.

    Congress has pushed ahead with bills allowing indigenous reservations only on land that was occupied by native communities when Brazil passed its constitution in 1988. The lower house passed a bill last month and its backers want the Senate to follow suit before the Supreme Court rules on the issue.

    On Aug. 31, Justice Cristiano Zanin cast a crucial vote that all but ensures the 1988 cut-off date will be rejected by the court. Zanin said indigenous communities that were not present on their lands in 1988 may have been forced to leave.

  • Court Poised to Rebuff Land Claim Cutoff

    Court Poised to Rebuff Land Claim Cutoff

    Photo: alexlmx

    Brazil’s Supreme Court is likely to rule against attempts by the country’s farm lobby to limit land claims by indigenous peoples to areas they occupied before 1988, according to Reuters.

    The case stems from a dispute in Santa Catarina state where the government rejected a land claim by the Xokleng people, who were evicted by tobacco farmers from what was their ancestral land.

    Congress has pushed ahead with bills allowing indigenous reservations only on land that was occupied by native communities when Brazil passed its constitution in 1988. The lower house passed a bill last month and its backers want the Senate to follow suit before the Supreme Court rules on the issue.

    On Aug. 31, Justice Cristiano Zanin cast a crucial vote that all but ensures the 1988 cut-off date will be rejected by the court. Zanin said indigenous communities that were not present on their lands in 1988 may have been forced to leave.

  • Brazil: Most of Crop Already Planted

    Brazil: Most of Crop Already Planted

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Brazil’s tobacco crop for the 2023/2024 season is mostly planted already, according to Kohltrade.

    Transplanting began earlier this year than in previous years and is being finalized in most of the southern Brazil properties. Farmers are hoping to avoid excessive summer heat and to grow more quality leaf. 

    Traditionally, the majority of planting took place in August. Recently, however, farmers have been planting early to harvest earlier to avoid issues created by lack of rain and excessive heat, which have been constant in recent seasons.

    The Department of Mutuality of the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association stated that recurring droughts have forced farmers to start their work earlier in the season. Planting early has risks as well, though, with the potential for some of the plants to die after a winter frost.