EN 
PT_BR The state of Maranhão fulfilled its promise and changed the Special Grain Contribution (CEG), reducing the rate on the value of a ton of grains destined for export from 1.8% to 1%, with exemption from the tax for grains originating in other states. The new rules are in Provisional Measure 490/2025, published last Thursday (21) in the official gazette of Maranhão.
The rule meets the demands of the production sector, but does not resolve the entire discussion, which has already reached the Supreme Federal Court. “We are still analyzing the effects of the MP, but in principle, producers from Maranhão continue to be at a disadvantage,” says Leandro Genaro, who works at a company in the sector.
One of the problems lies in article 6 of the MP, which states that operations carried out between January 1, 2025 and July 31, 2025 are exempt from paying the CEG. “We do not know if those who paid can request a refund of the fee and what the situation will be for those who made a judicial deposit, since the CEG is the subject of at least 10 lawsuits by producers who provisioned the payment,” says Genaro.
What is known so far is that the CEG is zero until July 31 of this year; that between August 1 and December 21, 2025 the rate will be 0.5% and from January 2026 it will be 1%.
The exemption from the tax on grains (soybeans, corn, millet and sorghum) produced outside the state but transported through Maranhão – the so-called interstate operations – is also strange, because one of the objectives of the tax was to invest the collected amount in improving the road infrastructure. “Grains originating in the state pay the tax, while others, which travel along the roads, do not. This cut seems quite contradictory to us,” concludes the specialist lawyer.
