Souza Cruz S.A. is a Brazilian

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...

manufacturing company based in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

. Souza Cruz is a subsidiary of

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the larg ...

. The company was founded in 1903 by the Portuguese immigrant Albino Souza Cruz, who in 1914 converted the company into a corporation and transferred the controlling interest to British American Tobacco. Souza Cruz is currently the leader in the domestic market for cigarettes, with a 62.1% share of the Brazilian market, and is among the top ten tax payers in the country.

Overview

It operates throughout the product cycle, from production and processing of tobacco through manufacturing and distribution of cigarettes. Souza Cruz employs nearly nine thousand people at tobacco harvest time. The company markets more than 78 billion units of cigarettes a year through 260 thousand retail stores. In the production of tobacco, about 40 thousand integrated producers receive technical assistance from the company. In addition to processing tobacco for its own products for the domestic market, the integrated production system of Souza Cruz produces more than 127 tons of tobacco for export to more than 50 countries on 5 continents. The company is based in

and has two cigarette factories: one in

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fo ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

, and another in Cachoeirinha, Rio Grande do Sul, which is also the site of the company's center for research and development. It also has five central integrated distribution centers, in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte,

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

and

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, responsible for coordinating distribution to the retailer. The company also has processing plants in the main tobacco regions, in

Santa Cruz do Sul Santa Cruz do Sul () is a city in central Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The city has an estimate 131,000 inhabitants as of 2020 and sits about 150 km (93 miles) from the capital city of the state, Porto Alegre. The city enjoys a high standard ...

Blumenau Blumenau is a city in Vale do Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina, in the South Region of Brazil. It is away from the state capital of Florianópolis. The city was founded by the German chemist and pharmacist Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau (181 ...

, Rio Negro and Patos, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and

Paraíba Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíb ...

, respectively.

Joint ventures

Souza Cruz has two joint ventures: Brascuba and Agrega. Brascuba is an equally owned joint venture with the Cuban government that has existed since 1995, dedicated to the production and export of cigarettes. The Cuban government considers the company one of the five biggest successes of the joint enterprise in the country. Agrega is a joint venture between AmBev and Souza Cruz, with a focus on strategic thinking and process improvement, optimizing costs and identifying market opportunities. It began operations in January 2002 with the aim of reducing costs through scale and materials management services and utilizing synergies between the two companies.

References

External links

{{British American Tobacco Manufacturing companies based in Rio de Janeiro (city) Tobacco companies of Brazil Companies listed on B3 (stock exchange) British American Tobacco