Brasília – The reduction of the import tariff on ethanol has been postponed until July, as announced today (9th) by the Brazilian minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes. Upon leaving the meeting of the Foreign Trade Board (Camex), he informed that the tariff reduction has been removed from the guidelines and will only be discussed again in five months.
According to the minister, the beginning of the sugarcane crop, in March, would render an eventual reduction of the import tax ineffective. "If we were to eliminate the tariff now, nothing would change with regard to fuel prices, because the sugarcane crop is going to start and prices would drop anyway."
Presently, ethanol pays a 20% import tariff in order to enter Brazil. According to Stephanes, the tariff’s elimination, which should occur in the second half, will have diplomatic objectives. "We are going to scrap the tax in order to pressure the United States into not taxing our ethanol on their market," said the minister.
Yesterday, in an interview to ANBA, the Brazilian minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, who presides the Camex’ Council of Ministers, stated that he supports the tax reduction, and that he believed it was going to be passed today.
*With information from the ANBA newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
