Import duty removed
23/08/2007
Brazil’s Chamber for Foreign Trade (CAMEX) has lowered to zero the import duty on sheepskins and goatskins from the Mercosur Common External Tariff list, so these skins can now enter Brazil tax free.
The Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB) had been pressing the government to make this change, which benefits tanneries in the north and northeast of the country in particular.
In those regions of Brazil, farmers breed mainly goats and sheep because these animals are better adapted to the harsh conditions of the climate there. Local tanneries have a combined processing capacity of 12 million skins per year, but production does not exceed 7 million pelts leaving an idle industrial capacity of 5 million skins.
The new measure is expected to help cover the raw material deficit which would, in turn, increase industrial production and generate new jobs bringing a better life to some of the poorest people in Brazil.
