LATAM: BORDERS


First Brazilian border duty free store imminent; ASUTIL’s Mercosur hope


With the first Brazilian land border duty free store tipped to open finally this month, industry players in the region will be hoping for further positive developments following ASUTIL’s response to the Mercosur resolution passed last year, which excludes key duty free product sales. Andrew Pentol reports.


T


hose who attended the Monday morning conference session at the inaugural Duty


Free & Travel Retail Summit of the Americas last year will remember a pivotal announcement from Gustavo Fagundes, ASUTIL President and Dufry General Manager Brazil & Bolivia. The Brazilian government passed a


law in 2012 to open land border duty free shops in Brazil, but its delivery was put on the backburner while the Receita Federal do Brasil (Brazil’s federal revenue service) addressed other political issues deemed more important. However, last year in Orlando


Fagundes revealed the Brazilian customs authorities had finally granted permission for the law to be implemented and Brazilian land border duty free stores to open. Under the approved guidelines,


border stores can be established in any of Brazil’s 32 twin cities that border variously with Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Following this


significant


announcement, it was even suggested the first stores could open as early as August 2018. But confirmation from Receita that the required software to operate the stores would not be ready until the end of September put paid to that idea. It was then mooted that some


small 30sq m or 40sq m border duty free stores, operated by local entities, would be up and running by the end of 2018. This also failed to materialise. Last September, José Luis


Donagaray, Secretary General, ASUTIL, indicated he did not expect


MARCH 2019


any stores to open in major Brazilian frontier cities such as Foz do Iguaçu or Rivera, until this month.


Industry braced for news He confirmed this was still the plan during a recent ASUTIL webinar, and revealed that the first outlet is expected to open in Uruguaiana at the end of the month. Donagaray, who indicated a small


border duty free store might then follow in Rio Branco, pinpointed Uruguaiana, Livramento and Foz do Iguaçu as the key cities where the major operators will run border duty free stores. Once these open, Brazilians will


be able to buy goods to the value of $300 (as the allowance currently stands), just as they are permitted to do in border stores in neighbouring countries. Receita’s intention was to reduce


this allowance to $150 unless a global Mercosur agreement was struck, but Fangundes confirms to TRBusiness that the $300 allowance will remain in place. The Brazilian border duty free


store opportunity will attract many of the world’s largest and prominent DF&TR players, including Dufry Group, which indicates to TRBusiness it is assessing the best opportunities and locations in the twin cities. Reacting to ASUTIL President


Fagundes’ announcement on the Brazilian border breakthrough last year in Orlando, Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz told TRBusiness Deputy Editor Luke Barras Hill: “There is great value to deliver. Dufry is involved and one of the priorities in the country is to participate in the market. “We need to understand the customer’s behaviour and


“We do not want to be IKEA. We have agreed not to sell certain products in duty free, but want to be able to sell cigarettes and electronics etc.”


José Luis Donagaray, Secretary General, ASUTIL


TRBUSINESS 51


Above: Border stores can be established in any of Brazil’s 32 twin cities that border variously with a number of countries including Bolivia. Source: CivArmy


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78