Importing Fertilizers to Brazil
The fertilizer industry is one of the fastest growing sectors worldwide, including Brazil. The article outlines the importation of these goods to Brazil, disclosing not only the procedures involved, but also all the documentation required.
Brazil has a huge arable land extension, from the 340 million hectares that composed it, 72 million are cultivated for annual and perennial crops and 172 million are designated for pasture activity. Therefore, the country has excellent conditions for the development of agribusiness, one of the major industries of the Brazilian economy.
The fertilizers are an important sector of the Agribusiness industry in Brazil. They are basic inputs that – if utilized correctly – increase the agriculture production. The Ministry of Agriculture is the competent government body that monitors the production and the commercialization of these products, in order to avoid any type of harm to human health and to the nature.
The establishments that produce, import, export, and commercialize fertilizers must be duly registered in the Ministry of Agriculture, just like those that manufacture or import products. To structure the national production and importation policy of these goods, the Ministry created the National Plan for Fertilizers. The program aims to diminish the Brazilian dependency on foreign raw materials and expand the internal production.
General Steps for Importation
The Importer Establishment must register a Licença de Importação or Import License – most known as LI or LSI – in the Siscomex, just as in any import process. After filling all the information fields required, the importer must fill up the requerimento de importação or the import request in the model 5.5.
The request must be delivered to the Serviço de Fiscalização Agropecuária or Agribusiness Monitoring Service – most known as Sefag. The body is the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, present and established in each Brazilian State. The request must be addressed to the Sefag correspondent to the state, in which the importer establishment is registered.
In the case of licenciamento substitutivo de importação or substitutional import license, even if the imported quantity of the product was altered, the acceptance of the license can be obtained directly by the Serviço/Posto de Vigilância Agropecuária or Service/ Surveillance Post. It's mandatory to present the LI extract to be replaced with the authorizing landing situation, besides the rest of the customs clearance documentation.
Importation for Individual Consumption and Cooperative Usage
In order to import fertilizers for individual consumption or for agribusiness cooperatives' usage, the interested party must:
- Present a request to import for individual consumption or request for agribusiness cooperatives' usage.
- Termo de Compromentimento or Commitment Term, proving that the party won't resell the product to third parties.
- Copy of the Registro do Produtor Rural or Registry of the Rural Producer in the Treasury Secretariat or in any government body / or Copy of the Estatuto Social or Social Statute for cooperatives
- Certificado de Análise or Certified of Analysis issued by the input's country of origin specifying its physical and chemical characteristics.
- Certificado de Livre Comércio or Certified of Free Trade issued by a competent body of the input's country of origin.
- Utilization plan of the input on the property/land.
- Nominal relation of cooperated with the quantity per cooperated – to imports realized by Cooperatives.
The Sefag technician analyzes the request and issues an import permit, that will be valid only for the importation departure. After this authorization, the interested party registers an LSI or LI in Siscomex, mentioning in the field "Informações Complementares" or “Complementary Information” the number of the specific authorization, along with other data. All of this must be submitted to a Sefag unit of the Federation where the input will be used.
Importation for Researches
The interested party must request from Sefag the import authorization based on a projection elaborated by an Official Brazilian institution or by an accredited one. After the authorization to the research material importation, they must register an LSI or LI in Siscomex, mentioning the authorization number in the field “Complementary Information”.
The promissory contracts of purchase and sale attached to the respective contracts at the time of conclusion of the transaction public deed should also be disclosed in this field. These documents must be presented to the Sefag unit referent to where the input will be used.
Importation of Samples
If the importation refers to product samples designated to laboratory analysis, the interested must present a request indicating information about the importer and others, such as:
- the objective of the samples importation for laboratory analysis
- imported material type
- quantity
- the laboratory in which the analysis will be conducted
- which types of analysis will be executed
- technical data of the input to be imported
- analysis certificate of the input's country of origin and certificate of analysis informing the presence and quantity of contaminants contained in the sample
- Commitment Term informing that the sample is designated for laboratory analysis.
The interested party must also send a copy of the analysis report of the product, made by the laboratory placed in Brazil, to the Sefag.