São Paulo – To import frozen sardine turned cheaper to the Brazilian market since this Wednesday (15) with the import fee for the product being slashed from 10% to 2%. The sardine, which is traded under the Mersosur Common Nomenclature (NCM) number 0303.53.00 and supplied to Brazil especially by Morocco, can now be purchased abroad under the lower fee during a period of six months and up to a limit of 30,000 tons.
The resolution from Tuesday (14) by the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex), agency of the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), was published by the Official Federal Gazette this Wednesday (15). Two other products also had their fees cut: monoisopropylamine and its salts (input for herbicide), and nickel. According to information released by MDIC, the measure was taken due to shortage in the domestic market.
Concerning the sardine, the ministry said that the goal is to secure the product’s supply during the non-fishing period (closed and recruitment period), in compliance to Brazilian environmental legislation. In this period, sardines breed and also gain weight to be fished later. In Brazil, fishing is interrupted twice a year, from middle of June to end of July and from November to February.
Brazil imported, from January to May of this year, 34,800 tons of sardine traded under the NCM benefited by Camex’s measure. The purchasing volume was worth USD 25.6 million. Last year, imports totaled 17,800 tons, practically half of what was imported this year up to May, with revenues reaching USD 13.1 million.
Two Arab countries are the largest suppliers of frozen sardine imported by Brazil. Morocco is the largest source in revenues and Oman is first in volume. The latter sold a cheaper product early in the year. Morocco exported 15,700 tons to Brazil from January to May, which was worth revenues of USD 14.1 million. Oman supplied 19,100 tons in the same period, which totaled USD 11.4 million. The other supplier this year was Portugal, but with a smaller volume, 32 tons, worth USD 80,000.
The other two products, monoisopropylamine and its salts and nickel, had different tax breaks. The former went from 14% to 2%, starting June 23, for a period of 12 months and up to a limit of 26,200 tons. Nickel, used by steel industry to produce stainless steel, went from 6% to 2%, during 180 days, up to a limit of 3,600 tons.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani