Small value imports in Brazil increase a hundredfold in ten years

The number of small-value imports via international orders and operations through payment facilitators, such as purchases made by Brazilians on websites in other countries, has increased a hundredfold in ten years.

Data from the Central Bank show that, in 2013, they totaled US$ 83 million, jumping to US$ 8.49 billion this year, in the period between January and September (last month with figures released).

Compared to last year, when it was US$ 5.67 billion, 2022 saw an increase of almost 50%. If only the period from January to September 2021 is taken into account, when it was US$ 3.92 billion, the increase reaches 116%.

The coordinator of the Commerce Survey of the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, Rodolpho Tobler, points out that growth in the decade is the result of the digitalization process of the Brazilian economy, accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The internet was advancing, the mobile internet by cell phone as well and new business opportunities were emerging. In this trade of small items, people have been discovering websites out there and seeing that some fees are worth it”, he assesses.

Another point remembered by Tobler is the acceleration of deliveries. After the bottleneck period of the pandemic, orders have arrived more quickly in Brazil.

In addition, he lists the improvement in the labor market and the recovery of Brazilians’ income, in addition to the exchange rate factor, for the advancement of small-value imports. “As of 2020, the dollar has been above R$5, but this year there was a period of relief at the beginning, which may have also contributed”, explains Tobler.

The president of the Brazilian Association of Electronic Commerce (Abcomm), Maurício Salvador, mentions that internet purchases were boosted by two factors: the specialization of foreign sites to serve Brazilians and taxation.

“We had international websites, like Ali, eBay, Amazon.com, which started offering pages in Portuguese. This opened the reach for many Brazilians who had a certain insecurity in buying on foreign sites. They came to better understand the rules, the product description. Another point is taxation. Orders under $50 are exempt. Brazilians discovered this, realized that they could buy abroad, sometimes at three times lower costs, without paying taxes”, says Salvador.

According to Salvador, three categories stand out in this type of negotiation: fashion, electronics and construction materials. But the President of Abcomm assesses that the movement of explosion in imports is negative for the Brazilian retail.

“In a way, it’s unfair competition. You have thousands of packages arriving every day that do not pay taxes, that do not generate employment in the country, that do not contribute to internal development, ”she says.

The entity works with the Ministry of Economy to change public policies and think of ways to encourage Brazilian entrepreneurs, especially micro ones, as happens in countries like China and the United States.

Furthermore, the Brazilian online market plans to grow not only among domestic consumers, but also foreign consumers. And it is already registering an increase, according to data on small value exports released by the Central Bank.

The numbers from January to September of this year – US$ 2.89 billion – surpassed the negotiations for the entire year of 2021, when US$ 2.24 billion were registered.