TobaccoReporter logo

Tag: Brazil

  • Volumes Down, Prices up in Southern Brazil

    Volumes Down, Prices up in Southern Brazil

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco growers in southern Brazil produced 560.18 million kg in 2021–2022, 10.9 percent less than in the previous growing season, reports Kohltrade, citing figures released by the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association, Afubra, on Sept. 5.

    Production included 512.59 million kg of flue-cured Virginia, 41.79 million kg of burley and 5.79 million kg of Galpao Comum, a native tobacco variety.

    The area planted with tobacco in southern Brazil decreased by 8.8 percent year-on-year to 246,590 ha in 2021–2022.

    While the leaf volume was down, the average price paid to tobacco growers in southern Brazil grew by 61.5 percent to BRL17.02 ($3.25) per kg this year.

    The average price was BRL17.26 per kg in Rio Grande do Sul, BRL17.19 per kg in Santa Catarina and BRL16.41 per kg in Parana.

    Industry representatives expect the southern Brazil region to cultivate a slightly larger tobacco area for the 2022–2023 crop.

    The production estimate will be completed by the end of October.

  • Brazil Cracks Down on E-cigarette Sales

    Brazil Cracks Down on E-cigarette Sales

    Brazil’s Ministry of Justice in Brazilia (Photo: Jose Duardo)

    Brazil’s Ministry of Justice instructed 33 businesses to stop selling e-cigarettes or risk a penalty of BRL5,000 ($966.65) per day, according to the The Brazilian Report.

    E-cigarettes have been banned in Brazil since 2009, but they remain readily available online, at tobacconists and in supermarkets.

    One of the companies targeted by the ministry is France-based Carrefour, one of the world’s largest retailers, which owns more than 1,000 stores in Brazil and accounts for 25 percent of the domestic retail market.

    In July this year, Brazil’s national health surveillance agency, Anvisa, voted to uphold the ban on e-cigarettes, citing studies showing that the use of electronic smoking devices increases the risk of smoking in young people, the potential for dependence and the likelihood of lung, cardiovascular and neurological health problems.

    Around 20 percent of Brazilians aged 18-24 vape, while smokers make up approximately 12 percent of the population, according to April 2022 polling data.

  • SindiTabaco’s President Recognized

    SindiTabaco’s President Recognized

    Photo: SindiTabaco

    The Brazilian media conglomerate Grupo RBS has recognized Iro Schunke, president of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), for his contributions to the development of Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil’s leading tobacco producing states.

    During an Aug. 30 ceremony in the municipality of Esteio, Schunke accepted the Guri trophy, which honors the accomplishment of citizens in areas such as agribusiness, music and technology.

    A graduate from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Schunke has worked as an agronomist, manager, director and production superintendent. In addition to leading SindiTabaco, he is the director of the Federation of Industries of Rio Grande do Sul. In 2015, he also became director-president of the Instituto Crescer Legal, an entity that promotes professional education for rural young people.

    “I thank Grupo RBS for this honor,” said Schunke in an article published on SindiTabaco’s website. “Rest assured that I will continue to work on behalf of the state, the tobacco sector and the Crescer Legal Institute.”

  • Brazilian Institute Hosts Debate on Child Labor

    Brazilian Institute Hosts Debate on Child Labor

    Photo: Sinditabaco

    Brazil’s Growing Up Right Institute organized a seminar on child labor prevention at the Santa Cruz Country Club in Santa Cruz do Sul on July 7.

    Under the theme, “Child labor: care, welcome and protection,” participants discussed the progress made in combatting child labor, along with the work that still needs to be done.

    “The Institute was founded with the mission to fight child labor and generate opportunities for adolescents from the rural setting, especially in tobacco growing regions,” said Iro Schunke, president of the Growing Up Right Institute, in a statement. “It is a complex task, but with good partnerships we have achieved great results. We have already become known nationally and internationally for the innovative method of offering opportunities to adolescents from the countryside through the learning law.”

    Since 2016, the rural professional learning program has benefited 596 young people in Rio Grande do Sul. As part of the program, tobacco companies associated with the Growing up Right Institute hire young apprentices and pay them a salary proportional to 20 hours a week.

    Instead of working, however, the apprentices attend a rural management and entrepreneurship course in the shift opposite to their regular school hours. The classes typically take place in the apprentices’ normal schools or in venues provided by the municipal administrations, which also provide for food and transport logistics thus making it viable for the adolescents to attend the course.

    According to a report by the International Labor Organization and by the United Nations Children’s Fund, 160 million children and adolescents, aged 5 to 17, were subjected to child labor in early 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem of child labor around the world, with a sharp increase in poverty, closure of schools and consequent school evasion.

    In Brazil, the National Household Sample Survey, demonstrated that 1.77 million children and adolescents works, 53.7 percent of whom are in the 16-17 year age group.

  • Brazil Maintains E-cigarette Ban

    Brazil Maintains E-cigarette Ban

    Photo: Brenda Blossom

    Brazil’s national health surveillance agency, Anvisa, decided on July 6 to maintain its ban on the import, advertising and sale of electronic cigarettes in Brazil, according to News Bulletin 24/7. The restriction began in 2009, but marketing continues illegally in the country, so Anvisa also called for increased inspections and educational campaigns  to curb the illicit trade in e-cigarettes.

    The decision was taken unanimously during a meeting of the body’s collegiate board. According to Anvisa Director Cristiane Rose Jourdan, scientific studies show that the use of electronic smoking devices increases the risk of smoking in young people, the potential for dependence and the likelihood of lung, cardiovascular and neurological health problems.

    The Brazilian Medical Association (AMB) applauded Anvisa’s position. ​”This is a wise decision, as there is increasing scientific evidence that the use of electronic smoking devices, the DEFs, is not harmless, does not support smoking cessation or is a form of harm reduction, but a product that causes dependence and can cause several diseases, especially cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer,” said Ricardo Meirelles, coordinator of the Commission to Combat Tobacco at AMB.

    A survey carried out in the first quarter of 2022 by the Vital Strategies organization and the Federal University of Pelotas, revealed that 19.7 percent of Brazilians aged between 18 and 24 have tried electronic cigarettes.

    BAT Brasil (formerly Souza Cruz) said it will assess the regulatory impact analysis of Anvisa’s decision when it is published.

    “Dozens of countries have already understood the importance of risk reduction as part of their tobacco control policies and, given this reality, have advanced in the regulation of these devices,” the company said in a statement, citing the examples of United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, among others.

    Japan Tobacco International regretted Anvisa’s decision. “The use of electronic devices in the country is current and supplied exclusively by illicit trade. Legalized companies do not sell the product and the growth in consumption that affects the population comes from the illegal acquisition of devices,” the company said.

  • Steep Rise in Brazilian Tobacco Prices

    Steep Rise in Brazilian Tobacco Prices

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco buyers have been paying 43 percent more for flue-cured Virginia leaf and 35 percent more for burley leaf in Brazil, reports Kohltrade, citing a partial marketing survey carried out by Afubra, a tobacco growers association.

    During a May 4 meeting of the Rio Grande do Sul Tobacco Sector Chamber, Afubra President Benício Albano Werner said famers have been receiving an average of BRL15.09 ($3.16) per kg for their flue-cured tobacco and an average of BRL13.48 for their burley this year, compared with BRL10.54 and BRL13.48, respectively around the same time in 2021.

    Industry sources note strong competition to purchase the remaining stocks of green tobacco from farmers. By the end of April, the cigarette tobacco-producing states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana has sold 73 percent of their Virginia tobacco, 93 percent of their Burley leaf and 92 percent of their Comum tobacco to leaf merchants.

    The price increases are attributed to the rising cost of energy, fertilizers and labor, among other factors.

  • Brazil Mulls Legalizing E-Cigarettes

    Brazil Mulls Legalizing E-Cigarettes

    Photo: Rmcarvalhobsb

    E-cigarettes may become legal in Brazil later this year as ANVISA, the federal health sanitary agency, plans to revisit its regulations regarding the products. Proponents of vaping have been pushing the government to legalize the products to help smokers quit combustibles, but critics are concerned about  youth usage as well as potential higher rates of vaping that could follow legalization.

    Electronic tobacco products have been banned in Brazil since 2009, but there are currently shops that sell the products anyway, often with statements that the products are safe, according to The World.

    “Once the product is legally allowed to be commercialized, it gets into the distribution network of the tobacco companies, which have one of the best distribution systems around,” said Stella Bialous, a Brazilian expert on tobacco issues and a professor from the University of California, San Francisco. She fears that more people would likely take up vaping if the products are allowed to be commercialized. In 2019, less than 1 percent of Brazilians used e-cigarettes. However, if the products are commercialized, they would become more easily available, and that percentage could quickly rise.

    “Considering that these products are attractive to youth and that we can’t affirm that they really work for tobacco cessation, we believe that we must prioritize the public policies to prevent smoke initiation and also to promote health for the Brazilian population,” said Monica Andreis, the executive director from ACT Promocao da Saude, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on tobacco control policies.

    “Brazil has a leadership role in Latin America and also around the world related to tobacco control policies. I believe that the decision from ANVISA has the potential to influence other countries in Latin America,” Andreis said.

    ANVISA has not commented on the situation, stating that it is still analyzing data. “Up to this point, there are still uncertainties and controversies related to the risks attributed to these devices,” the agency stated in February.

  • Brazil Recyling Tobacco Pesticide Containers

    Brazil Recyling Tobacco Pesticide Containers

    Photo: Sinditabaco

    Tobacco growers in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul area are eligible to take part in the empty pesticide container collection program from March 7 to May 19. The move is part of a project by the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union, SindiTabaco, and associate companies, in partnership with the Tobacco Growers’ Association of Brazil, Afubra, and now benefits 113,000 tobacco growers and 395 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

    Iro Schuenke

    According to SindiTabaco President Iro Schuenke, the project is one of the various examples in which the sector puts environmental, social and governance principles into practice.

    “The pesticide collection program was created before legislation now in force, with the purpose to preserve the environment and farmers’ health and safety through proper disposal of empty pesticide packaging,” said Schuenke in a statement.

    In its 21 years of operation, the program has collected 18 million empty pesticide containers and become a benchmark for other sectors in reverse logistics.

    Of the containers collected, 93 percent are destined for recycling, providing raw materials to other plastic products, according to program coordinator Carlos Sehn. Containers that cannot be recycled are taken to licensed landfills.