São Paulo – Following the announcement made by the Brazilian federal government last week, the Executive Management Committee (Gecex) of the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) has decided to cut import taxes on certain food products to zero. An agency under the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services, Camex eliminated tariffs on previously announced products—olive oil, corn, sunflower oil, sardines, biscuits, pasta, coffee, meat, and sugar—and increased the quota of palm oil imports at zero tax from 60,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes for a period of 12 months.
The tariff reduction may allow the selected products to be imported at lower costs, thus increasing the availability of these items in the Brazilian market, facilitating the acquisition of essential products in the national staple food basket, minimizing the risk of shortages, and ensuring dignified living conditions for the population, according to the committee’s assessment released by the ministry. The ministry says that, by increasing the supply of tax-exempt products, the decision also aims to curb price increases, that is, inflation.
The measure approved by Gecex comes into effect on Friday (14). It applies to certain types of food or the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM): frozen boneless beef (NCM 0202.30.00), roasted non-decaffeinated coffee, except in capsules (NCM 0901.21.00), unroasted non-decaffeinated coffee beans (NCM 0901.11.10), corn kernels, except for sowing (NCM 1005.90.10), pasta (NCM 1902.19.00), biscuits and cookies (NCM 1905.90.20), extra virgin olive oil (NCM 1509.20.00), sunflower oil (NCM 1512.11.10), sugar (NCM 1701.14.00), and sardine preparations and preserves (NCM 1604.13.10). Sardines will have a tariff exemption for a quota of 7,500 tonnes.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
