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Incentives for investment into the State of Tocantins, Brazil

If you want to communicate directly with Diretor Vilmar Carneiro Wanderley, or any other Brazilian government officials, PLEASE write to them ONLY in Portuguese.  They will perceive any correspondence in English as arrogance, ignorance, intentional rudeness or all three. 

The following is a letter I received from the office of the Director of Management of Industry and Commerce for the State of Tocantins, Brazil. 

DIRETORIA DA INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO DO ESTADO DO TOCANTINS

Mr. Arthur Wyss,

Thank you for your inquiry about investment in the State of Tocantins, Brazil.  I am enclosing an Investment Portfolio for the State of Tocantins.  The Government of the State of the Tocantins does offer fiscal incentives aiming to the generation of jobs.  We are seeking the development of tenable industrialization of the State of Tocantins. 

For details about investment incentives, please view the following website:

http://www.portaldocidadao.to.gov.br/?br

We are specifically trying to encourage development of the following:

Commercial Meat Processing @ Wholesalers (Beef, Chicken, Pork, Lamb, and Fish)

Meat Wholesalers and distribution (Beef, Chicken, Pork, Lamb, and Fish)

Food Processing @ Wholesalers, other than meat (Fruit, Vegetables, Nuts, Grains, etc.)

Tourism

Automotive Industries (cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, etc.)

Exporting

Considerately,

Marcelo Arantes

Advisor to Director Vilmar Carneiro Wanderley

Click here to view the original Portuguese Language Investment Portfolio sent from the office of the Director of Management of Industry and Commerce for the State of Tocantins, Brazil.  (DIRETORIA DA INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO DO ESTADO DO TOCANTINS)

Keep in mind that Director Vilmar Carneiro Wanderley is a high level state official in the capital city of the State of Tocantins, Brazil.  The businesses that he stressed that he would like to see come to his state are all entitled to generous incentives.  However, our local contacts in the vicinity of the land we are selling in this offering have given us their ideas about what kind of businesses they think would be in the biggest demand for the local market.  These businesses include:

1.        Internet Café

2.        Real Estate Office

3.        Retail shops selling household goods

4.        Recreation 

5.        Bar/Cafe/Restaurant

6.        Beer Brewery (standard brewery or micro brewery)

7.        Open-air cinema

8.        Agriculture related suppliers and services

9.        Limestone crushing quarry

10.      Manufacturer of household goods

These were just some suggestions made by local people for new businesses they think would be in demand in the area.  Other businesses that are not commonly on the minds of the locals may also succeed.  Tocantins is the newest state in Brazil, carved from the wilderness just a few years ago.  There are many opportunities in such a new place. There is very little competition.  Most of the locals do not seem ambitious enough to start their own businesses.  

Another recent letter from Brazil regarding investments in Brazil follows:

Dear Mr. Arthur Wyss:

 

In attention to your email dated October 15, we inform that the Brazilian legislation makes no distinction between national and foreign capital. Therefore, once the nature of the business to be explored is defined, the investor should constitute a company within the established legal parameters. In that sense, we suggest the hiring of support from specialized law offices, in a way not to incur in waste of time and unnecessary expenses. 

 

THE STATE OF PARANÁ 

 

Located in the Southern part of the country, the State of Paraná occupies a strategic position in relation to Brazil and Mercosur (Common Market of the Southern Cone), major economic concentration of Latin America with a market of 200 million consumers and a GDP of a trillion dollars, which places the region among the four largest economies of the world, right after the NAFTA, the European Union and Japan. 

 

On account of its geographical location, the State represents the access to a regional market of 65 million consumers that generate an income around 350 billion dollars/year. With a population of more than ten million inhabitants, abundant and accessible energy, investing massively in infrastructure, Paraná has a GDP of R$ 81.5 billion (2002) - 6,10% of national GDP and a per capita income of R$ 8.241,09. 

 

The investment opportunities in Paraná are immense, considering that the State has a highly diversified economy, comprising activities of agribusiness, processed foods, beverages and processed agricultural products, automotive assembly and parts industry, civil construction, textiles and the clothing, leather, shoes and seasonings, mining and processing of minerals and metals, paper, cardboard, packing and graphic industry, wood, pieces of furniture and domestic utensils and household equipment, petrochemistry, chemistry, plastics and rubber, health and personal hygiene industries, capital goods, industries of domestic equipment and information technologies, all of these representing 98,5% of the Industrial Transformation Value of the overall industry of Paraná. In that sense, investments can be inserted along any one of those chains, preferentially those that aim at increasing competitiveness through innovation and adding value to the production. 

 

Within the state scope, an appropriate set of decrees set forth since the beginning of 2003, placed into force the rules that provided - in a clear and comprehensive manner - the concession of incentives and tax benefits, with a special remark given to State Decree number 1.465/2003, of 06/18/03, which instituted the "Good Job Program", destined to provide industrial undertakings located in Paraná with a tax benefit comprising the postponement, for a period of 48 (forty eight) months, the date of payment of the incremental ICMS tax (service and goods tax) to be generated monthly by the project. The search for rationalization and industrial decentralization turn the tax benefit percentage to be higher in the municipal districts with lower indexes of economic and social development.  

 

Additionally, for companies that are inserted in the "Good Job Program", the Decree number 1.464, of 06/18/03, allows the extension, for a period of 24 (twenty-four) months, of the period of payment of the ICMS tax applied to electric power bills.  

 

Other benefits can be individually negotiated with municipal authorities and these may vary from the availability of industrial properties (donation or subsidized lease), infrastructure services and tax exemption. 

 

CURITIBA -  the Entrance Gate to Mercosur 

 

Participating with a percentage of about 17,19% of the state GDP and being a competitive and favorable atmosphere for accomplishment of businesses and attraction of high technology companies, Curitiba, the capital of the State, is also the pole of the Metropolitan Area, a geographical area that comprises 26 municipal districts and a consumer market of 3,11 million inhabitants.

 

The city’s location, allied to the excellent infrastructure as regards transports, electric power supply, information and telecommunication technologies, logistics, water supply, sanitation and urban structuring, has been motivating investments of solid national and international groups, turning the area one of the most important economical poles of Brazil, being among the ones of greater growth in the last years.  

 

With geographical limitations for the enlargement of its industrial park (restrictions of areas and environmental matters), Curitiba is searching to direct efforts in the attraction of companies with focus on technological innovation, especially those connected to the development of new products and rendering of services in the areas of the information technology and telecommunication. With this in mind, the municipality is investing in the specialization of teaching, master's degree and doctorate in all areas of higher education, by systematically sheltering universities of recognized competence that offer, besides graduation, other courses of economic and social interest. This way, non-traditional investors that intend to install facilities in Curitiba, can easily form their specialized contingents of needed personnel, reaching the productivity indexes foreseen in their projects. 

 

Great companies in the “outsourcing” area are installing in Curitiba their Global Service Rendering Centers, standing out, among them, ExxonMobil, Phillips Morris, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Accenture and Banco do Brasil. Other companies, like Siemens and Kraft Foods, already installed their Centers for Development of New Technologies, rendering services to their branches around the world. 

 

Nowadays, the municipal district of Curitiba does not grant any direct form benefits (industrial and commercial extents or services rendered) for the installation of new companies. The projects are analyzed individually by a group of experts, with whom opportunities of support (financial and/or fiscal) can be discussed, depending on the relevance of the project for the local and regional economy. In addition, the company will count, if necessary, on the municipal government institutional support during the implantation  phase of the project. 

 

Hoping that the above information may orient your decision of investing in the state of Paraná, we thank you in advance for your interest, which may contribute to the highest promotion objectives for the consolidation of the state socio-economic development. 

 

Respectfully, 
 
 
LUIZ FERNANDO NAVARRO
Adviser 
 
ORLANDO AGULHAM JÚNIOR
Coordinator, Promotion of Investments 
Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Curitiba - Curitiba S.A. 

 

Luiz Fernando Navarro lnavarro@curitibasa.com.br