Export tax reduction “just the start”
22/07/2008
The state authorities in Brazil’s main leather-producing region, Rio Grande do Sul, have announced a reduction in the export tax that tanners there will have to pay.
The tax, known as ICMS, will decrease from 17% to 12%.
The president of AICSul, the main industry body in the state, Francisco Gomes, said on hearing the news that the amount of capital the move would free up for tanners was small, but that this was “just the start of a dialogue” with the state in which the leather sector hoped to gain further concessions that would help it become more competitive.
Rio Grande do Sul has almost 200 tanning companies who, collectively, process around 15 million hides a year. Exports from the state account for around 25% of total Brazilian hide exports, which have an estimated value of $2 billion a year.
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