The Brazilian heavy equipment industry complained to the Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, about “unfair competition from Chinese products.”
The president of the Brazilian Association of Machinery and Equipment Industries (Abimaq), Nilton de Mello, said that he counted on the comprehension of the Minister, who promised to transmit some of the complaints, which refer to tariffs, to the Ministry of Finance.
The Abimaq complains of finished Chinese goods that arrive in Brazil underpriced, often for less than the per kilogram cost of raw steel, “an unequivocal proof of fraud and underpricing.”
Regarding tariff collection, Mello cites the example of pumps, reducers, and valves, which, according to him, may be small objects or large-scale devices and are classified generically by the Ministry of Finance.
The heavy machinery industry also requested that accumulated ICM and export credits be restituted, a grievance that goes back many years.
Another of the Abimaq’s demands is to extend the redemption period for export contracts (in which payment is in foreign currency) from 180 days to 360 days or more.
The Abimaq revealed to the Minister of Development the damages the sector is suffering from the overvalued exchange rate and annual interest rates at their current level.
“We are in need of emergency measures, because export channels are being closed for us, as well as the domestic market,” Mello said.
The government’s measure exempting steel imports from duties, according to Mello, only benefitted the automobile industry.
He expressed the opinion that the government’s high overnight benchmark interest rate (Selic) attracts speculative capital, “which leaves here with a profit and tax exemptions and also helps weaken the value of the dollar.”
Agência Brasil
