Amid Brazil’s tax reform debate, the Brazilian Distilled Beverages Association (ABBD) is deploying a tactic from the global playbook in Brazil: an industry-funded Euromonitor report to stoke fear of illicit trade and derail life-saving alcohol tax reform. This fear-based tactic distracts from the real alcohol burden and ignores global evidence showing that improved enforcement, not lower taxes, is key to reducing illicit markets.

“Counterfeits ‘swallow’ 28% of the spirits market in Brazil, says study”

Istoe Dinheiro reports:

“Counterfeit beverages caused Brazil to lose R$ 28 billion in tax revenue last year. The data is part of a study conducted by Euromonitor International for the Brazilian Distilled Beverages Association (ABBD).

“The research shows that, from 2023 to 2024, the country adopted enforcement measures, but the tax loss, although reduced by R$ 200 million, is still very large.

“In 2023, 9.6% of the fermented alcohol market was illicit. Last year, the percentage rose 0.1%, reaching 81.5 million litres of illicit fermented alcohol. Counterfeit spirits accounted for 30.6% of the market in 2023 and fell to 28% in 2024.”

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Assessment

Repeating a Global Playbook: Big Alcohol Deploys Euromonitor to Oppose Brazil’s Alcohol Tax Increase

The Associação Brasileira de Bebidas Destiladas (ABBD, Brazilian Association of Distilled Beverages) represents the interests of the liquor industry in Brazil, especially those of global alcohol giants Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Beam Suntory, Brown-Forman, and Bacardi.

The ABBD-commissioned Euromonitor report is not neutral research – it is an industry-funded initiative produced in the middle of an alcohol tax reform debate. By commissioning Euromonitor to produce alarmist numbers, Big Alcohol is trying to shift the focus away from the real issue: the devastating health, economic, and social costs of alcohol harm in Brazil. By highlighting contraband, the liquor industry is attempting to re-orient the policy discourse away from a comprehensive discussion of alcohol harms and the necessary public health response. Such a reframing benefits the profit maximisation agenda of the involved alcohol industry giants.

This tactic is not new. Similar Euromonitor studies have been deployed in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda to raise fears of illicit markets and stall alcohol tax reforms. The pattern is clear: distract from the real alcohol burden, spread fear and misinformation, and push inadequate policy measures that fail to curb alcohol harm.

Independent evidence shows a very different reality:

  • The scale of illicit alcohol is determined by enforcement and governance, not by the size of alcohol taxes.
  • The best way to reduce the illicit alcohol trade is to improve enforcement, including through investing in better enforcement and oversight – additional revenue from alcohol taxation can help fund this.
    • Countries such as Thailand, Lithuania, Russia, and Botswana have all raised alcohol taxes without triggering major growth in illegal markets.
  • Higher alcohol taxes provide governments with additional revenue that can be used to improve enforcement and reduce illicit trade.