Brasília – Around 200 capital goods (machinery and equipment used in production) and IT products whose Import Tax was raised in February will have their rates reduced to zero for four months, Brazil trade panel Gecex/Camex decided on Thursday (26). The measure aims to lower costs for industry and ensure the supply of items with no equivalent domestic production.
At Thursday’s meeting, Camex reduced the tariff to zero for 970 products. Of these, 779 already had prior concessions, which were renewed in a decision considered routine by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.
The remaining 191 items are part of a rollback of tariffs raised this year on more than 1,200 electronic products, including smartphones, IT goods, and electronic components. In February, the government had already reduced the duty to zero for 105 of those items.
According to the ministry, the reduction was granted following requests from companies that cited a lack of domestic production or insufficient supply in the domestic market. The requests are reviewed by the government, with a deadline of up to four months for a final decision.
Others
Camex also reduced the import tariff to zero for several products in other sectors considered strategic. These include medicines used in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia. Agricultural inputs, such as fungicides and insecticides, were also covered, along with items used in the textile industry, hospital nutrition, and even hops for beer production.
According to the government, the initiative aims to reduce production costs, contain inflationary pressures, and prevent supply bottlenecks, especially in sectors reliant on imported inputs. At the same time, the measure rebalances earlier tariff increases adopted to stimulate domestic production but that ultimately led to calls for revision from the productive sector.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
