By the end of the year, ethanol and six foods will not pay tax to enter the country. The reduction to zero of the rates was announced on Monday (21) by the Ministry of Economy.

The decision, however, did not please everyone.

On Tuesday (22), by note, the National Union of Corn Ethanol (Unem) spoke out against.

The entity believes that the measure could generate adverse and unwanted effects at a time of market instability, such as legal uncertainty, increased cost for domestic industry, inhibition of job creation and the disinvestment process.

"In this period of great appreciation of commodities in the world market and increased prices of fossil fuels, Unem advocates the valorization and stimulus to the production of fuels from a clean and renewable energy matrix, which adds value to primary production, generates jobs in the field and in industries and tax collection," the statement said.

In the text, Unem says it recognizes the government's efforts to contain fuel price inflation, but stresses that it "advocates dialogue with all agents in the production chain to find effective solutions not only for producers, but for the entire population."

"It is worth remembering that the ethanol sector is going through a moment of high expectations, with the beginning of a super crop of sugar cane and second-harvest corn, with a growing supply of ethanol in the national market from the second quarter and significant additional volumes in relation to the last harvest. In addition, announcements of investments in new production units and for the expansion of plants already in operation exceed r$ 6 billion."

Also according to the entity, corn ethanol production came out of a production of 37 million liters in the 2013/2014 harvest with a projection of 4.2 billion liters in the 2022/2023 harvest. The expectation is to reach the production of 10 billion liters in 2030/2031.

Government

According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Marcelo Guaranys, the measure announced on Monday aims to hold inflation. "We are concerned about the impact of inflation on the population. We are setting zero reduction of the import tariff of just over seven products by the end of the year. This does not solve inflation, this is with monetary policy, but it generates an important incentive," he said.

According to the folder, the measure will make the price of gasoline fall to R $ 0.20 for the consumer. Currently, the liter of gasoline has 25% anhydrous alcohol. Because of the recent fuel surge, the government expects the reduction in the import tariff to virtually zero the effects of the latest increase.

"We have an estimate that this could lead to a reduction in the price of gasoline of around R$ 0.20 at the pump. This is a static analysis. In practice, this measure will end up cooling the price growth dynamics in the order of R $ 0.20", said the Secretary of Foreign Trade, Lucas Ferraz.

Source: Canal Rural