By Ana Mano and Ricardo Brito SAO PAULO (Reuters) -A website containing information about Brazil’s “soy moratorium,” a private agreement enforced by global grain traders to protect the Amazon rainforest from soy-driven deforestation, was taken offline on Tuesday after Brazil’s antitrust authority ordered suspension of the pact. The move is a response to a set […]
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Brazil’s ‘soy moratorium’ site offline after antitrust ruling setback

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By Ana Mano and Ricardo Brito
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -A website containing information about Brazil’s “soy moratorium,” a private agreement enforced by global grain traders to protect the Amazon rainforest from soy-driven deforestation, was taken offline on Tuesday after Brazil’s antitrust authority ordered suspension of the pact.
The move is a response to a set of measures enforced by the agency on Monday that include starting a full-blown probe into some 30 traders and industry groups for alleged anti-competitive practices.
The soy moratorium, long hailed as one of the most successful initiatives to protect the Amazon rainforest, bars soybean traders from buying from farmers who cleared land there after July 2008. But the General Superintendent regulator CADE ruled that it represents a potential breach of Brazilian competition law.
Superintendent Alexandre Barreto de Souza ordered firms to suspend the pact or pay fines at the end of a preliminary investigation, which was prompted by a request in August 2024 from the agriculture committee of Brazil’s lower house of Congress.
A majority of lawmakers in the committee is backed by farmers, who called the moratorium’s suspension a historic victory.
Soy growers, however, are not expected to clear big areas of forest as that crop has been advancing over pastureland, according to Mauricio Buffon, president of farm lobby Aprosoja Brasil. Rather, the initiative’s suspension changes market dynamics, he added.
To circumvent the moratorium, he said, farmers would go through an intermediary, accepting less money for their soy. The difference now is that farmers would no longer need a middleman, Buffon noted.
Most of Brazil’s soy is sold to China, but European nations such as Spain, Italy and Britain buy it, too.
TRADERS IN A BIND
Pressure to end the moratorium escalated on several fronts in recent months.
The Supreme Court is now hearing three cases about whether soy-growing states may refuse tax incentives to signatories of the agreement. Next Friday, a panel of justices will rule on whether to uphold a recent injunction that confirmed one of the states, Mato Grosso, can refrain from giving such incentives starting in 2026.
On the competition front, people familiar with the thinking of trade groups Anec and Abiove told Reuters they would appeal the suspension of the pact at CADE’s tribunal, which is composed of six commissioners, including its president. They have five days to appeal and the tribunal has 48 hours to assign a reporting commissioner to the case, CADE said.
CADE may take years to conclude the investigation and issue a final opinion on the moratorium’s legality.
If soy exporters are found guilty of breaching competition law, their trade groups face fines of up to 2 billion reais ($365.60 million). For traders themselves, fines can reach up to 20% of the company’s gross revenue in the last fiscal year before the investigation started.
($1 = 5.4704 reais)
(Reporting by Ana Mano and Ricardo Brito; Editing by Manuela Andreoni, Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)