(Bloomberg) -- Carrefour SA Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Bompard plans to issue a public apology to the Brazilian government to settle a controversy over its commitment against selling South American meat in France, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
French ambassador Emmanuel Lenain is seeking a meeting with Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro to issue the apology and reinforce the quality of Brazilian meat, according to the person who asked to not be named because the document isn’t public yet.
The move comes after companies such as JBS SA, the world’s largest producer, and Minerva SA decided to retaliate and suspended sales to Carrefour in Brazil. The French grocer has more than 1,000 outlets in Brazil, which generate more than 20% of its global sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Carrefour’s plan to apologize was first reported by Valor Economico. The French embassy in Brazil is acting as an intermediary to help Carrefour retract its statement and solve the spat, Favaro said in an interview with TV Globo on Monday.
After the meeting with the minister, the retailer is planning to release a statement in France and Brazil, in which it will also argue the company has always only sold French meat in its home country.
Bompard’s commitment last week to not market any meat produced by Mercosur, a South America trading bloc, drew ire from Brazilian officials. It comes amid protests by French farmers against a potential European Union free trade agreement with the bloc formed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Earlier today, Brazil’s lower house decided to vote on a new bill to enforce “economic reciprocity” in response to French protectionism, according to Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira. Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro endorsed the decision from Brazilian beef producers to suspend sales to Carrefour’s local unit.
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