MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil non automatic import licences on blankets from China and Uruguay

Officials suspect China takes advantage of Uruguay and Paraguay to access the Brazilian textile market

Brazil announced it was imposing non automatic import licences on synthetic fibre blankets from Paraguay, Uruguay and China, according to an official communiqué from the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade released Tuesday.

Brazilian officials believe China is involved in dumping price practices and takes advantage of Mercosur members Paraguay and Uruguay to access the Brazilian market.

Antidumping measures will be extended to textiles used for the confection of blankets since Brazil believes China is selling the material to local workshops and thus avoids tariffs.

Non automatic licences mean imports can be delayed in Customs for up to a maximum of sixty days, until they are cleared.

Brazil also announced it would open an inquiry into possible attempts to circumvent anti-dumping measures. The decisions were announced during the visit of China’s Trade Minister Chen Demining on a South American tour with a delegation of forty business persons.

Development, Industry and Foreign Trade minister Fernando Pimentel who met his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in Brasilia avoided the issue but said that Brazil’s objective is to increase exports to China by 20% this year. Exports to the Asian giant last year totalled 30.8 billion US dollars mostly commodities (85%). China’s sales are manufactured or processed items.

Last week Brazil also applied the non automatic licences system to car and auto parts imports. The decision triggered a strong reaction from Argentina, since Brazil is the main market for the Mercosur associate automobile industry, but Pimentel said the measure was not tailored to any country in particular.

“The auto industry balance is negative for Brazil and almost doubled in the last twelve months because on massive imports not only from Argentina but also from Asia, South Korea and China, as well as the US and the EU”, pointed out Pimentel.