Brazil’s Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, says that the Brazilian government will seek to negotiate with Chinese authorities for voluntary restrictions on Chinese imports.
Furlan, who is scheduled to visit China this month, made the announcement after talks with Paulo Pereira da Silva, the president of the Força Sindical labor union.
According to Pereira da Silva, Chinese imports threaten various industrial sectors. He has joined representatives of the textile and toy industries in calling for safeguards because there has been a 229% increase in Chinese goods entering Brazil since 2002.
Imports of Chinese products grew 52.33% during the January-June period, compared with the same period last year, according to data from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade.
Data from the State of São Paulo Textile Industry Syndicate (Sinditêxtil-SP) indicate that exports grew far less than imports in the first half of this year, in comparison with the same period last year.
A reflection, according to the president of the Syndicate, Rafael Cervone, of the combination of the exchange rate and China.
In the cumulative figures for the January-June period, the São Paulo textile sector presented a reduction of 33.3% in its trade surplus (exports minus imports).
The surplus was US$ 5.2 million in the first half of this year, as against US$ 7.8 million in the same period last year.
The acting executive secretary of the Ministry of Development, Ivan Ramalho, said that no date has yet been determined for the application of safeguards against China.
According to Ramalho, the decrees to regulate these foreign trade instruments are being drafted in the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex).
ABr