Government raises import tariff on dairy products from outside Mercosur

The Executive Management Committee (Gecex) of the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) approved an increase in tariffs for dairy product imports from countries outside Mercosur, as announced by Roberto Perosa, Secretary of Commerce and Relations at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The tariff for processed cheeses like Roquefort, Camembert, Brie, and Gorgonzola, as well as butter and butter oils, will be raised from 12% to 18%.

Additionally, Gecex made amendments to Resolution 353/2022, which implemented a general 10% reduction in import rates for over six thousand products. In the dairy sector, an exception has been made for 29 items, leading to a 10% tariff increase from 12% to 14.4%. This change applies to products such as UHT milk and processed milk.

Resolution 353/2022 had previously reduced import rates for other dairy items in May last year, including cream, grated cheese, yogurt, butter, and paste spread from milk products, among others. It is not yet clear if these are the items that will experience a tariff increase.

Both measures apply to imports from outside Mercosur. The Brazilian productive sector has expressed concerns about purchases of powdered milk from neighboring Uruguay and Argentina.

The chart below shows Brazil’s dairy imports (hs code 0400-0405) measured in TEUs from Jan 2019 and Jun 2023. The data is from DataLiner.

Dairy Imports | Jan 2019 – Jun 2023 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

In a meeting with Fetag-RS, the Agrarian Development Minister announced an investigation into the possible dumping of imports from Mercosur. A working group was also established to present a program within 30 days to enhance productivity in the dairy chain.

Source: Globo Rural

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