Commodity firms working together to source deforestation-free soy in Brazil are being investigated under anti-cartel laws. They also risk losing tax benefits due to pressure from powerful farming lobbies. Businesses selling prostheses, gas water-heaters, electricity meters, cement and even tech giants like Apple and Meta have recently come under fire from Brazil’s competition watchdog, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), for anti-competitive practices. Also among the alleged offenders targeted by CADE are “do gooding” commodity giants that have signed the Amazon soy moratorium. The moratorium, which has been implemented since 2008, is a promise not to source soy from the Amazon following a 2006 Greenpeace campaign that linked soybean cultivation with deforestation. Switzerland is the European trading hub of the biggest commodity firms like Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus Company and COFCO that have signed up to the soy moratorium. According to Greenpeace, the ...
