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The federal government is studying a tax on the export of unprocessed critical minerals, a measure that seeks to discourage the sale of raw materials and encourage processing in Brazil, while the Ministry of Mines and Energy launched an investor guide and is discussing BNDES credit to strengthen the industrialization of the sector.
The Brazilian government is considering implementing a tax that could change how the country deals with its most valuable mineral resources. The proposal under discussion in the federal government, disclosed by CNN Brasil, foresees the creation of a specific taxation on critical minerals exported without processing, a strategy aimed at forcing value aggregation within the national territory instead of allowing other nations to buy raw materials at low prices and profit billions from their transformation. The tax would function as an industrial policy mechanism: by making the export of raw minerals more expensive, the government intends to make it more advantageous for companies to process the resource in Brazil before selling it abroad.
The proposal does not yet have a defined implementation date and remains under internal debate within the government. The taxation would cover various minerals classified as critical, a category that includes essential elements for the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, solar panels, and defense equipment, resources whose global demand is growing rapidly and whose control has become a geopolitical issue among the world’s largest economies. Brazil has significant reserves of several of these minerals, but historically exports them with little or no processing, a pattern that the proposed tax aims to change.
Why the government wants to create this tax on minerals
The logic behind the tax is straightforward: Brazil sells cheap raw materials and buys back expensive finished products made with its own resources. Minerals such as lithium, niobium, rare earths, and graphite leave the country in their raw state and are transformed into high-tech components in factories in China, the United States, Japan, and Europe, a chain that concentrates most of the added value and skilled jobs outside Brazilian territory. The tax on unprocessed exports would create an economic incentive for mining companies to invest in processing plants in Brazil, transferring stages of the production chain that currently generate wealth abroad.
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The measure is part of a global context of competition for critical minerals. The United States, the European Union, and China have already implemented aggressive policies to ensure access to these resources, including subsidies for domestic production, bilateral supply agreements, and restrictions on the export of processed materials. Brazil, which has abundant reserves but participates marginally in the industrial chain that transforms these minerals into final products, sees the tax as a tool to reposition itself in mineral geopolitics before other countries consolidate supply chains that exclude Brazilian raw materials.
What the government plans beyond the tax to strengthen the mineral sector
The export tax is just one part of a broader strategy. The Ministry of Mines and Energy launched the Investor Guide for Critical Minerals, a document that maps investment opportunities in the sector and seeks to attract foreign capital for processing projects within Brazil. The idea is to combine disincentives for raw mineral exports (via tax) with positive incentives for industrialization (via credit and investment attraction), an approach that tries to balance tax pressure with economic opportunity.
BNDES credit lines for mineral processing projects are also being discussed. Subsidized public financing for processing plants would reduce the entry cost for companies that currently find it simpler and cheaper to export unprocessed minerals, and the combination of accessible credit and a tax on raw exports would create a scenario where processing the mineral in Brazil becomes financially more attractive than selling it raw. The idea of establishing a state-owned company dedicated to the sector was discussed but eventually weakened in internal negotiations, indicating a preference for market mechanisms rather than direct intervention.
The risks and criticisms surrounding the creation of this tax
The proposed tax on mineral exports is not consensual. Critics argue that taxing the export of raw materials could deter international investors already operating in the Brazilian mineral sector, who would view the tax as a sign of regulatory instability, especially at a time when other countries are offering increasingly favorable conditions to attract mining companies. Brazil’s international competitiveness as a mineral supplier could be harmed if the tax raised costs to the point where it became cheaper for foreign buyers to seek the same resources in competing countries such as Australia, Canada, or African nations.
The impact on the trade balance is also a concern. Minerals represent a significant portion of Brazilian exports, and a tax that reduces the exported volume without domestic industrialization compensating for the difference could lead to a short-term loss of revenue. The government bets that the medium-term effect will be positive because processed mineral products have a much higher unit value than raw materials, but the transition between one model and another requires time, investment, and infrastructure that Brazil still needs to build.
What the creation of the tax would mean for the Brazilian economy
If implemented, the tax on critical minerals would represent a paradigm shift in the country’s mineral policy. Brazil would cease to be merely a supplier of raw materials to the world and would begin to compete for space in the industrial chain that transforms these resources into batteries, chips, and renewable energy components, markets that move hundreds of billions of dollars and are growing at the speed of the global energy transition. The industrial transformation of critical minerals can create skilled jobs in mining regions that today depend exclusively on extraction, diversifying the economic base of municipalities and states that rely on commodity exports.
The debate over the tax exposes the permanent tension between two development models. On one side, the view that Brazil should take advantage of its comparative advantages as a raw material producer and not create barriers that could reduce export competitiveness. On the other, the conviction that exporting natural resources without processing is to perpetuate a cycle of dependence that keeps the country on the periphery of global value chains. The tax on minerals is the tax translation of this second view, and its approval or rejection will define which model the government chooses for Brazil’s mineral future.
And you, do you think Brazil should tax the export of unprocessed minerals or could this deter investors? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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