The project of tax reform, that would be discussed next week in the plenary sessions of Congress, includes the tax on ultra-processed foods and foods with a high content of added sugars.
(Tax: this is the VAT for e-commerce like Amazon).
The rate for this type of food, such as chocolate and preparations containing cocoa, would be 10% for 2023, 15% for 2024 and 20% for 2025.
(For 7 out of 10 Colombians, oil is needed to overcome poverty).
Faced with this situation, the small and medium-sized Colombian producers ask that the chocolate with high percentages of cocoa is not treated as an ultra-processed food in the reform.
In fact, more than 50 senators of the Republic presented a proposal so that it is not included in the list of products that will be taxed.
(These are the products that are stolen the most in supermarkets in the country).
“It is necessary that real chocolate with cocoa content above 70 percent, which is not made up of additives, colorants or texture modifiers, be excluded from the tax reform as ultra-processed because it is not.”, pointed out Alberto Henao, manager of Lök Foods, a company that produces and sells chocolates with high percentages of fine aroma cocoa.
“Real chocolate is made up only of cocoa butter and cocoa liquor, very different from regular or substitute chocolate, which is made up of hydrogenated fats, sugar, milk, chocolate flavor and just a little bit of cocoa,” he added. the food engineer, Gloria Alzate.
Currently, the cocoa production chain generates about 173,293 jobsthrough planting, in 422 municipalities of 27 departments of Colombia and links 65,000 families, who are directly benefited by the crop.
The largest production of Colombian cocoa comes mainly from the departments of Santander (41%), Antioquia (9%), Arauca and Huila (8%), Tolima (7%) and Nariño (5%).
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