The Brazilian government has announced that it will increase import duties by 20-25 percent on one hundred products, including certain hot rolled steel, wire rod, stainless flat rolled steel, stainless bars, electrical steel, tubular products and railway products, effective as of September 25, 2012. The government is also considering increasing import duties on another hundred products, planning to impose import duty increases on 300 products in total.
The government also stated that the new import tariff rates will not exceed the customs tariff rates that the country agreed upon with the World Trade Organization (WTO), emphasizing that it is a temporary measure that could stay in force until the end of 2014 with possible one-year extensions depending on the circumstances.
The iron and steel products whose import tariff rates will be increased are classified under the following Harmonized System (HS) codes: 7208.38.90, 7208.39.10, 7208.39.90, 7208.51.00, 7213.91.90, 7219.33.00, 7219.34.00, 7222.20.00, 7225.11.00, 7304.39.10, 7303.00.00, 7302.90.00, 7306.19.00, 7305.12.00 and 7307.23.00.