Lucia Pacifico, a retired teacher, got a shock when she went to a supermarket in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte to buy her favorite Snow brand of toilet paper.
The rolls, made by Klabin Kimberly SA, had shrunk 25 percent yet the price had barely changed. Pacifico, who leads the Association of Housewives, a consumer rights group, said a pack of four 30-meter rolls this week cost an average 2.65 reais (US$1.06), compared with 2.77 reais in late April for a pack of 40-meter rolls.
``They took away 10 meters of toilet roll and we want it back,'' said Pacifico, 64, a grandmother. She mobilized her movement's 5,000 members to check prices and packaging of products from tomato sauce to crackers in Minas Gerais state's 6,139 supermarkets.
Consumers like Pacifico have led the fight against what they see as attempts by manufacturers to use packaging changes to disguise price increases as a slowdown in the economy curbs demand and energy shortages raise production costs.
The Brazilian government late Wednesday responded to consumers by fining paper companies Santa Theresinha SA, Klabin Kimberly and Melhoramentos, another maker of toilet rolls, two million reais each.
Paulo de Tarso, the Justice Ministry's secretary of economic law, said there were signs the companies, which make 50 percent of Brazilian toilet rolls, were acting as a cartel by reducing package sizes. Klabin Kimberley is joint venture between Industrias Klabin de Papel e Celulose, Brazil's biggest paper maker, and Kimberly-Clark Corp. Klabin could not be reached for comment.
Research by Pacifico's group convinced the Minas Gerais consumer protection agency to order supermarkets to remove 14 products from their shelves on Aug. 21. The goods included Quaker Oats Co canned sardines and a coffee sweetener made by Boehringer Ingleheim GmbH.
The ban has now been lifted, said Manoel Perdigao, a lawyer at Minas Gerais Procon, after Pacifico said some of the Movement of Housewives' research may have been flawed in the rush to gather evidence.
"Investigations are continuing," said Perdigao. "But it's certainly true all this does reflect real concern on the part of consumers." In Sao Paulo state, evidence of changes to packaging has been coming to light since April as researchers collect information on prices for 31 products from 70 supermarkets, said Vera Marta Junqueira, director of research at the state's consumer protection agency.
The researchers found two soap powders, which previously sold in 1 kilogram packets, were being sold in packets of 900 grams, said Junqueira. Cornstarch cookies made by Danone, that used to come in 200-gram packets, were selling in 180-gram packets, she said.
On July 8, the agency found Santa Theresinha's four-packs of Personal brand 40-meter toilet rolls selling for 1.59 reais. By Aug. 7, the roll length had dropped to 30 meters but the price had fallen just 4 centavos.
Santa Theresinha, one of 47 toilet paper makers in Brazil, said it reduced the length of its rolls as energy shortages forced it to cut output 30 percent. Last week, the company promised government officials it would resume production of 40-meter rolls.
Junqueira attributes the packaging changes to producers trying to maintain profits as consumer demand slackens in a slowing economy. Power rationing, and concern of a debt default in Argentina have forced economists to cut economic growth forecasts by almost half to 1.6 percent for this year.
Companies have a duty to inform customers clearly about any changes to packaging, said Junqueira. Fines can range from 212,820 reais to 3.2 million reais if producers deliberately mislead customers, she said.
Sao Paulo Procon is still investigating whether there's evidence of "cartel-like behavior," especially from toilet roll makers. "That's a serious crime," she said.
Klabin Kimberly said it started packaging some products, including Snow Neutral and Snow Protection, in 30-meter rolls in May after research showed consumers liked the 30-meter rolls, which use a new paper technology.
The company said it now plans to keep selling its rolls in the 40-meter format alongside the new 30-meter versions.
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