BYD’s Brazil Labor Saga Highlights China’s Contradictions: 5 Key Insights

Brazil has placed Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD on its Registry of Employers who have subjected workers to conditions analogous to slavery, following a 2024 scandal involving the mistreatment of Chinese workers at the company’s factory construction site in Camaçari, Bahia.

The decision, announced by Brazil’s Ministry of Labor and Employment on April 7, 2026, adds BYD to a list of 169 employers newly included in the registry. The move comes after inspections revealed that 471 Chinese workers were brought into Brazil illegally to work on the construction of BYD’s first automobile factory in the country, with 163 of them rescued from slave-like labor conditions.

According to the Ministry of Labor, the investigation concluded that BYD bore direct responsibility for the illegal entry of these workers, despite presenting service contracts with third-party contractors. Tax auditors found that in practice, the workers were directly subordinate to the automaker.

The factory, which began operations in October 2025 after an investment of BRL 5.5 billion, was the focus of the labor inspections conducted between December 2024 and May 2025. During a raid on December 19, 2024, labor inspectors found workers living in overcrowded dormitories without mattresses, with some houses holding up to 31 people sharing a single bathroom.

Workers were required to hand over their passports to their employer, had most of their wages sent directly to China, and were required to pay an almost $900 deposit that could only be reclaimed after six months of work. They were not allowed to leave their dormitories without permission, worked long hours without weekly breaks, and were deprived of adequate wages.

The Brazilian authorities described the conditions as “degrading” and “slavery-like,” stating that the workers were victims of human trafficking. The issuance of visas to BYD workers was suspended until their legal rights were guaranteed.

By January 8, 2025, all 163 workers had received termination payments and returned to China. The site was shut down, and the workers were moved to hotel accommodations while their contracts were terminated.

BYD’s Brazil branch admitted there were problems with working conditions and said it had relocated the workers to local hotels. However, Jinjiang Group, the contractor that hired the workers for BYD, denied the allegations, calling the “slave-like” characterization inaccurate and attributing it to mistranslation.

The case has drawn international attention, including in China, and caused a months-long delay in the construction of the plant. Brazilian officials have argued that BYD bears ultimate responsibility for its workers’ conditions as it should supervise its contractors.

The inclusion in Brazil’s forced labor list carries reputational risks for BYD in its second-largest market after China and bars the company from obtaining certain types of loans from Brazilian banks, though it does not affect the operation of its existing auto plant in Camaçari.