Mexico increases rice import tax to 20%

Domestic rice exporting enterprises need to recalculate export prices and notify import partners.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Mexico said that from January 9, 2015, rice shipments imported from Vietnam and other countries arriving at Mexican ports will be subject to a 20% import tax on rice and 9% on paddy.

Mexico increases rice import tax to 20%

The Mexican Rice Council (Consejo Mexicano de Arroz) said that after the Mexican Government applied a free trade policy in rice imports, the area of ​​​​rice cultivation in Mexico decreased from 269,840 hectares in 2005 to 32,710 hectares in 2012 (down 87.9%). Rice production also decreased correspondingly from 807,000 tons in 2005 to 145,000 tons in 2012 (down 82%).

The reason why the amount of rice imported into Mexico increased to nearly 1.2 million tons in 2013 was because the price of imported rice and paddy was lower than the price of domestic production. For example, the price of imported rice from Asia (Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand) was 100 USD/ton cheaper than imported rice from the United States, and about 200 USD/ton cheaper than domestically produced rice.

With the reason of protecting domestic production, the Mexican Rice Council (CMA) has continuously put pressure and requested the Mexican Government to re-apply the rice import tariff, which was cut according to the Decree announced on June 18, 2007.

According to data from the Mexican Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank of Mexico, before 2013, Vietnam had not exported rice to Mexico. In 2013, Vietnam only exported 11,670 tons of milled white rice to Mexico, ranking 4th, after the United States (86,520 tons), Uruguay (46,720 tons), Pakistan (22,380 tons), out of Mexico's total rice imports in 2013 of 167,730 tons.

By the end of September 2014, Mexico imported a total of 197,560 tons of milled white rice. Of which, Vietnam imported the most with 65,040 tons. Currently, Vietnam has surpassed the United States to become the country exporting the most rice to Mexico. It is estimated that Vietnam can export 87,000 tons of rice to Mexico for the whole year.

According to VOV