A sharp increase in imports of gas cylinders from China, driven by the launch of the federal Gas do Povo (People's Gas) program, has sparked a trade dispute between Brazilian manufacturers and distributors importing the product.
Imports of Chinese gas cylinders rose from 29,000 units during all of 2025 to 515,000 in the first half of this year alone, according to data compiled by Mangels, Brazil's leading manufacturer. Since the industry purchases around 2 million cylinders each year to replace existing stock, that means one in every four cylinders currently sold in Brazil comes from China.Mangels has asked the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade to double the import tariff from 12.6% to 25%. Sindigás, meanwhile, argues that imports became necessary because Brazilian manufacturers cannot respond quickly enough to the surge in demand created by the program, which provides vouchers allowing 15 million low-income families to receive gas cylinders free of charge.
Mangels says there is a tariff distortion: the government raised the import duty on steel sheets—the raw material that accounts for 72% of production costs—to 25%, while leaving the tariff on finished gas cylinders at 12.6%, making it more advantageous to import the finished product.
