CAMEX (Foreign Trade Chamber) decided to zero the tax rate on imports of hulled and processed rice until December 31. The Management Executive Committee of the Camex established that the reduction is restricted to a quota of 400 thousand tons of non-parboiled hulled rice, semi-milled and milled rice. Camex’s objective is to reduce the cost of imported rice to increase the supply and contain the high price of the product in the Brazilian domestic market. Currently, the import tax rate for countries outside Mercosur is of 10% for hulled rice and 12% for processed rice, and the product is already tariff-free for members of Mercosur (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). According to the Ministry of Agriculture, from January to August, Brazil imported 417.4 thousand tons of rice and exported 1.153 million tons of the product. According to the National Supply Company (Conab), during the pandemic, rice consumption grew mainly due to the emergency financial help from the government.
Source: G1