Taxes on Brazil steel products have been adding costs to the competitiveness of the country’s industry, an executive said recently.
Citing a comment from Sergio Leite, vice-president for sales at Usiminas, a media report said high taxes make Brazil’s steel industry less competitive.
According to a 2012 study from Brazil’s steel institute (IABr), Brazil steel industry had lower production costs than any of the world’s largest producers: the US, Germany, China, Russia and Turkey.
However, high taxes make the Brazilian product to be more expensive.
“When this steel arrives in the hands of the consumer, with taxes added, it arrives as most expensive,” Leite said.
According to the media report, there’s a sense that reforms are needed in the country, and that are expected to come by the end of this year, when October presidential elections end.
“There is now a consensus from various industrial sectors that reform is needed to improve the tax system, to simplify and reduce bureaucracy," said Luciano Coutinho, president of Brazil development bank (BNDES).