Measure came into force on Friday (05/08) and will be valid for one year. Glyphosate, the most sold pesticide in the world, is among the products benefiting from reduction.

The Executive Management Committee of the Chamber of Foreign Trade (Camex) approved this Wednesday (03) the reduction of the import tax on five industrial inputs, among them, glyphosate.

Glyphosate is the basis of one of the most used pesticides in the world. In Brazil, in 2017 alone, 173 thousand tons of the product were sold, three times more than the second most commercialized pesticide, 2,4-D.

The product became known in the 1970s, when the company Monsanto – now owned by Bayer – developed a powerful herbicide. The safety of glyphosate for human health has been questioned internationally. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), linked to the World Health Organization (WHO), classified the product as a probable cause of cancer.

With the Camex decision, the glyphosate import rate will rise from 9.6% to 3.8%.

Other products that had their rate reduced were: PET resin (from 11.2% to 4.2%); PP resin (from 11.2 to 4.4%); PVC-S resin (from 11.2% to 4.4%); and copolymers of ethylene and alpha-olefin (from 11.2% to 3.3%).

The measure enters into force next Friday (05) and will be valid for one year.

The tax reduction takes place through the inclusion of these products in the List of Exceptions to the Mercosur Common External Tariff (LETEC).

Letec is a Mercosur mechanism that enables the bloc's countries to apply import tariffs different from those provided for in the Common External Tariff (TEC).

In a note, the Camex committee said that the reduction is necessary because of “supply problems in certain production chains” and “increases in costs in inputs from other chains”.

Source: www.g1.globo.com