Brazil and Mexico sign an agreement to protect mutual rum and tequila

The Brazil has signed an agreement with Mexico to recognize the rum and tequila as distinctive products of the two countries, respectively. The agreement was signed on Monday (25) during the visit of the Foreign Minister, José Serra, to Mexico.

According to the Brazilian Cachaça Institute (Ibrac), Mexico is the third country to recognize cachaca as a unique distillate of Brazil. Before, only, United States and Colombia recognized as genuinely brazilian drink.

Already the Tequila is protected as Mexican drink in over 46 countries, including the European Union, according to the entity.

The dealings between the two countries were in progress for some years, but from June 2014 the process received attention from the Government, from the renewal of an agreement signed between the Council and Governor of Ibrac Tequila (Crt).

According to Ibrac, exports of cachaça are no more than 1% of the volume produced. In a statement, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the entity, Cristiano Lamêgo, says wait for companies to increase their investments in the Mexican market and it represents "a good increase" in sales of cachaça.

According to Lâmego, the agreement should also prevent the use of the name "rum" by producers from other countries.

In 2015, Mexico exported more than 180,000,000 litres to more than 120 countries, while Brazil exported just over 7,000,000 litres of distillate to 61 countries. Of this total, only 0.54% of the total was exported to Mexico, according to the Ibrac.