Tax exemption for corn bran and oil will benefit the agricultural sector, says senator Tereza Cristina
“Agricultural production is of great relevance for Brazil, since corn and soybeans have been showing continuous development and productivity in the country, with high potential for generating socioeconomic development in many Brazilian regions”, points out the parliamentarian.
The Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Committee (CRA) of the Federal Senate approved, on June 12, the report on Bill 1548/2022. The senator informs that the measure provides exemption from PIS/Pasep and Cofins for corn bran and oil, as is already the case with soybeans.
“Corn complexes effectively contribute, in an equivalent way, both to the increase in direct or indirect labor, and to the production of food for human consumption, soybean and corn oils, and inputs for other agribusiness chains, bran of soy and corn for animal consumption”, he states.
Senate Committee approves tax exemption for corn bran and oil
Asafe Gonçalves, specialist in tax law and managing partner of Asafe Gonçalves Advogados, states that this measure was already an old claim for corn producers and will now have significant implications for the agricultural sector.
“With this reduction in tax credit accumulation, companies that operate in the domestic market and export products derived from corn will be able to improve their cash flow, enabling greater investments in production and technology”, he highlights.
He points out that the biggest bottleneck in the agricultural sector was developing a type of fast trackwhich is a way of trying to recover credits more quickly.
“And, suddenly, the government came with a measure like this, that even if I don’t have the credit return obtained within my operation, at least I will have the exemption”, he adds.
For the president of the Regional Mixed Agricultural Cooperative of Irecê (Copirecê) in Bahia, Zene Vieira, the exemption for corn oil and bran should benefit producers.
Better and more competitive prices for producers
“We are a cooperative of small family farmers, which has 4,800 small farmers here in the interior of Bahia, in the territory of Irecê. For us, this will be of great significance, because corn bran is one of the products that the cooperative works with. With the end of this taxation, producers can have more access to purchasing bran, and can have better, more competitive prices”, he points out.
Producer Paula Silva, 41 years old, lives in Lagoa Funda de Barro Alto, in Bahia. She explains that she sees the measure as positive, as it can help boost the Brazilian agro sector.
“I am an agroecological family farmer, I have corn production that is mostly used for my animals and I think this measure is very important, to reduce taxes related to corn production”, he states.
Corn production
According to a weekly harvest progress survey by the National Supply Company (Conab), the harvest of the Brazilian summer 2023/24 corn harvest reached 91.6% of the sown area by Sunday (23). There was an increase of 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous week, but a delay of 2.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
The states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina have already completed the harvest. In Rio Grande do Sul, 97% of the area was harvested; in Bahia, 90%; in Piauí, 76%; and in Maranhão, 50%.
By Brasil 61
