The merchant Raúl Chata Condori has been working at the “El Bosque” fair for 20 years. For the second year, it must carry out a Christmas campaign without Chilean tourism prohibited from entering Tacna since March 2019 with the border closure.
The situation is difficult. The Chileans were good customers. There is no lawsuit that has covered that absence.
El Bosque is located on Av. Coronel Mendoza, in the heart of the commercial area of Tacna. They offer all kinds of Christmas decorations, trees, gifts, dolls and nativity scenes. Before COVID-19, the products came from China, landed in the ports of Chile and were transported by land to Tacna.
Chata explains that due to the high costs of marine freight and restrictions to enter Chile by land, this season, imports are few. To this is added that Chinese production, in the decoration area, decreased due to the pandemic.
“Before we could travel (to China), and choose our merchandise, review, see the details. With the COVID thing, you can’t travel like before, so now I buy my merchandise from Lima. They produce dolls, ornaments and even lights. As they saw that there was a demand, they put the batteries “, says Chata.
Figures
Goods imported from Asia entered the country through the Tacna Free Zone, exempt from taxes, general consumption (19%) and selective for consumption. They only pay a special duty of 6%. But certain types of products can benefit from this benefit (called tariff items).
The president of the Tacna Free Zone, Aldo Fuster Ocaña, said that in figures, his institution has reported better numbers than 2020 and 2019, in terms of the collection of the special tariff, but there are variants that favor this rebound.
The first of them, the exchange rate, a dollar with a high price increases the collection. The second variant is the cost of the freight for the transfer of merchandise.
“The freight used to cost 2,000 dollars, now the user that brings from China is paying 18,000 dollars and that amount also goes to the calculation of the tax (…) the Zofra could close with 28 million soles of collection, three million more average. ”said Fuster.
Future
But there is good news for importers. This week, new tariff items were approved. The Ministry of Economy and Finance promulgated supreme decree 347-2021 that will allow the entry of new products to the free zone paying only 6% of special duty. These include electronic thermometers, tachometers, automobile tires, printing papers, water pumps, air compressors, gas water heaters, electric welding guns, and security cameras.
For now, the land border with Chile remains closed. In 2019, more than a million people passed through the Santa Rosa Border Control and merchants like Raúl Chata hope that this flow of travelers will recover. Meanwhile, your efforts will focus on staying on your feet.
.
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
