Importing Flowers to Brazil
Brazil is conquering its space in the ornamental flower and plants market, however, the country is still dependent on this product's importation. Find out the most important aspects of the importation of ornamental flowers and plants in Brazil.
According to the executive director of the Brazilian Association of Flowers and Plants Agribusiness (Abafep), Adonia dos Reis, the production of ornamental flowers and plants has increased in Brazil, not only in volume, but also in the area of production and in the number of national producers.
However, Reis also affirmed that the national production is still not enough to supply the internal consumption, that it should be increased up to 15% until the end of 2013. The answer will then be to increase the importation of flowers, which is, nowadays, is equivalent to 4% of the whole Brazilian consumption.
In 2012, imports moved more than 5 million USD, being Ecuador and Colombia the countries that compete fiercely for this Brazilian market niche.
Importation: Monitoring and Control
The Brazilian law and the international agreements, in order to guarantee product quality, security, and conformity, as well as, to evaluate the risk of spreading pests, set rules for the transit of plant products and agricultural inputs among countries.
The Ministry of Agriculture
In Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, most known as MAPA, is responsible for this control, performing:
- the management of public policies to stimulate agriculture
- the promotion of agribusiness
- the regulation and standardization of services related to these sectors.
The supervision and control subjected to MAPA is performed through the International Agricultural Monitoring System (Vigiagro). It sets specific procedures and phytosanitary requirements for each type of goods, including seeds, flowers, drinks, food, and agricultural inputs.
Vigiagro and the Ornamental Flowers and Plants
The products under Vigiagro monitoring and administration were subdivided into five categories, being the ornamental flowers and plants placed in the second position, which includes semi processed products (subjected to drying, cleaning, separation, and peeling) that can carry a plague.
This means that the ornamental flowers and plants don’t need a previous authorization to embark for Brazil, but they need to be monitored at the time of their customs clearance if the specie in question were never imported to Brazil before.
Main Steps for Importation
Since these types of products are free from previous authorization, they receive an automatic licensing. This is the most common procedure for importation. It's done automatically while the importer is registering the Import Declaration in Siscomex (the electronic system of the Federal Revenue Secretariat responsible for the issuance of import-related documents), after the arrival of the goods in the country.
If that is the case, the importer must register the commercial, financial, currency, and fiscal information related to its importation. After the Siscomex registry, the importer must print the import declaration and deliver it together with the following documents to a Federal Revenue State unit:
- cargo recognition
- commercial invoice
- proof of the tax payment, named as DARF
- phytosanitary certificate - known as ARP (Analysis for Plague Risk).
The phytosanitary certificate is only requested for species of ornamental flowers and plants that were never imported to Brazil.