On Wednesday, the Executive Management Committee of CAMEX, Brazil’s Chamber of Foreign Trade, decided to postpone a decision by the Chamber on whether to impose significant tariffs on U.S. ethanol imports. The Executive Committee’s decision delays CAMEX’s consideration until June, to allow for the proposal to be evaluated by another CAMEX subgroup, GTAT-TEC, the Technical Group on Temporary Alterations to the Common Foreign Tariff of Mercosur. The following is a joint statement from the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the U.S. Grains Council:
“We commend the Executive Committee of CAMEX (GECEX) for deciding to postpone the chamber’s proceedings on the recent proposal from Brazilian sugarcane and ethanol producer associations to reinstate an ethanol import tariff in Brazil. This is a critically important issue that will impact Brazilian consumers and commodity markets across the globe. It demands very thoughtful consideration.
“We strongly believe that re-imposing an import tariff on U.S. ethanol would only lead to increased fuel prices, and endanger the positive and hard-won cooperative trade relationship between our two countries concerning the production, use and global trade in ethanol.
“We look forward to continuing our dialogue with government officials and stakeholders in Brazil, in hopes of encouraging our friends from the South to not turn their back on the progress our two countries have made in building a trade relationship that encourages industry growth, expands markets and provides low-cost fuel to consumers in Brazil and the U.S.”
