A lobby group for Brazilian grain trading and crushing firms has told farming state Mato Grosso that it and many of its members are quitting a nearly 20-year-old pact protecting the Amazon basin from deforestation driven by soy farming.
The soy moratorium agreement bars signatories from buying soybeans grown on Amazonian farms deforested after July 2008.
In an announcement on Monday, Mato Grosso Governor Mauro Mendes said lobby group Abiove informed the state government officially that the association and major traders were leaving the pact. A tax law change on January 1 is a key factor.
The group and about two-thirds of the companies that formerly participated no longer appeared on Monday on the moratorium agreement’s website, opens new tab.
WWF said in a statement that the decision was an environmental setback.
Departure of the firms from the pact “weakens one of the most effective instruments for combating deforestation in the country,” and it exposes farmers to increasing climate risks, WWF said.
Greenpeace also criticized the move, saying it would violate promises made to investors and international markets.
The moratorium is credited with slowing the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. However, as Reuters reported last week, some of the world’s largest soybean traders were preparing to withdraw from the deal to preserve tax benefits in Mato Grosso, where a new law eliminating the benefits for moratorium participants took force at the start of 2026.
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