In a huge setback to the ethanol sector in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro denied the approval of Cide tax on gasoline to help the sector.
After the Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina supported the increase in the Cide tax to help ethanol industry, Bolsonaro cleared that the government is in no mood to take this step. He said that it wouldn’t be fair to increase the Cide tax to help the sector while people are losing jobs and having their salaries cut.
“Minister Tereza Cristina and Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque are in favour of hiking Cide tax but the other ministers including minister of Economy Paulo Guedes are against the tax increase”, Bolsonaro further added.
The sugar mills in Brazil have shifted to sugar production and are producing minimal ethanol as the ethanol sales in the market have dipped due to least demand amid lockdown. The ethanol industry in Brazil is in deep trouble, and to bring it out of the crisis, support was about to announce last week, but there is no announcement yet.
