Brazil: The Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade has approved anti-dumping measures against six countries: China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Mexico and the US. The Camex has also added a 4% levy to cement imports.
Dumping is the commercial practice whereby a country exports products at lower prices than those charged domestically in order to cause problems to its competitors. Whenever the practice is confirmed via a probe, imports of the products at hand from the dumping country can be overtaxed. The right to apply anti-dumping duties may be granted permanently or temporarily. Provisional authorisations occur whenever probes uncover signs of dumping. They are valid for up to six months and may be converted into permanent authorisations. The latter occur following more thorough probes and are generally valid for up to five years.
The Camex approved the inclusion of six products on the Exception List to the Mercosur Common External Tariff (Letec). When a product is added, its import tax rate can be raised or lowered in relation to the rate applied by the Latin American block's countries. The rate for cement, which was formerly exempt, will now have a 4% rate levied.
