Cosan Dogged by Slave Labor Allegation

Wal-Mart’s Brazil unit has suspended a supply contract with Cosan after the Brazilian sugar producer was included on a government list of companies whose workers operate in slave-like conditions. Cosan has expressed surprise at the decision to put it on the list and is pursuing legal channels to clear its name. According to Cosan, it was put on a blacklist because “a services provider to sugarcane suppliers which are also part of Cosan’s supply network” infringed a labor regulation in 2007. Cosan says it took measures to exclude the firm from its sugarcane supply network and says it “vehemently repudiates any kind of practice that infringes labor rights of its employees and the employees of its partners or suppliers.” Wires reported that Cosan stock rallied late Friday on news that the Brazilian agriculture minister had conceded that the blacklisting was a mistake. Cosan issued a statement saying a regional labor court has approved a request for the removal of the company’s name from the labor ministry’s list of companies that employ workers under slave-like conditions.