Brazil Resolução Gecex nº 837/2025 — Definitive Anti-Dumping Duty on Optical Fibre Cables from China

Mechanism

Resolução Gecex nº 837/2025 imposes a specific (per-unit) definitive anti-dumping duty of USD 2.42 per kilogram on imports of optical-fibre cables with or without connectorisation, classified under NCM subitem 8544.70.10, originating in China. The duty applies for a period of up to five years, subject to sunset review, and entered into force upon DOU publication on 22 December 2025.

The investigation was opened by SECEX alongside the companion raw-fibre investigation (which resulted in Resolução Gecex nº 829/2025) following a joint petition from Prysmian Cabos e Sistemas do Brasil S/A and Lightera (Furukawa Electric's Brazilian cable subsidiary), the two companies constituting the domestic production base for both monomode optical fibres and optical-fibre cables in Brazil.

The public-interest moderation (below-DECOM rate)

The defining procedural feature of this resolution is that the duty was explicitly set below the rate recommended by SECEX/DECOM following a public-interest evaluation (avaliação de interesse público) as required by Decreto 8.058/2013 (Brazil's anti-dumping procedural decree). MDIC invoked the public-interest doctrine on the grounds that Brazil's broadband-infrastructure build-out relies heavily on imported optical-fibre cable from China, and that passing the full DECOM-recommended duty forward would meaningfully increase telecom-capex costs for operators and slow FTTH expansion — particularly in secondary cities and underserved municipalities.

This contrasts directly with the companion Resolução Gecex nº 829/2025 on raw optical fibre (NCM 9001.10.11, USD 47.46/kg), where the full DECOM rate was applied on the grounds that domestic production capacity for raw fibre strand is sufficient to substitute Chinese supply. The asymmetry — prohibitive duty on upstream raw fibre strand, moderate duty on downstream assembled cable — reflects a deliberate MDIC structuring to protect domestic cable assembly while recognising that downstream cost pass-through risks from cable duties are more acute.

Market and competitive context

Brazilian optical-fibre cable imports from China were dominant during the period of investigation, driven by price-competitive Chinese OEMs (Hengtong, YOFC, ZTT, Fiberhome) whose cable products benefited from the same upstream-capacity-glut dynamics affecting global optical-fibre markets post-2022. The assembled cable product (NCM 8544.70.10) differs materially from the raw fibre strand covered by Gecex 829/2025 — Brazil has several domestic cable assemblers (including Prysmian and Lightera themselves) capable of using domestic or third-country fibre strand to produce cable, which is why the domestic-production-substitutability argument for a full DECOM rate was weaker for cable than for raw fibre.

Industry opposition was immediate and coordinated: associations representing downstream ISPs, telecoms operators, and infrastructure installers — Abrint (alternative ISPs), Feninfra (ISP infrastructure suppliers), Telcomp (competitive telecoms operators), and Abramulti (wireless internet service providers) — jointly criticised both Gecex 829 and 837 upon publication in January 2026. Abrint's formal reconsideration request (January 2026) specifically argued that the measures would increase broadband build-out costs by up to 50% for cable and effectively prohibit competitively priced fibre strand, reducing access-network deployment velocity in municipal ISP segments reliant on Chinese supply chains.

Downstream implications

• Brazilian FTTH and broadband capex increases for operators sourcing assembled optical-fibre

cable from China; the USD 2.42/kg duty is moderate relative to the raw-strand duty (USD 47.46/kg on Gecex 829), but material for cost-sensitive municipal ISP operators.

• Prysmian and Lightera gain domestic-market pricing headroom on the cable segment; they are the

primary beneficiaries of both Gecex 829 and 837, effectively securing end-to-end protection on the fibre-strand-to-cable value chain.

• Chinese cable exporters (Hengtong, ZTT, YOFC, Fiberhome) lose price-competitive access to the

Brazilian cable market for up to five years.

• The asymmetric duty structure (prohibitive on raw strand, moderate on cable) may incentivise

Chinese OEMs with Brazilian assembly presence to source non-Chinese strand for Brazilian market supply — an outcome consistent with MDIC's apparent intent to shift Chinese OEM activity toward in-Brazil assembly rather than outright exclusion.

• Potential for a GECEX public-interest review if Abrint's reconsideration request gains traction,

as occurred with Gecex 857/2026 on non-oriented electrical steel.

Pattern: Brazil 2025 AD build-out vs Chinese overcapacity

This is the fifth 2025–26 vintage Brazilian AD resolution targeting Chinese goods registered in the IPTM (alongside Gecex 765/2025 on carbon steel sheets, Gecex 778/2025 on polyester fibres, Gecex 829/2025 on optical fibre strand, and Gecex 857/2026 on non-oriented electrical steel). The cluster reflects the SECEX-DECOM petition pipeline absorbing a post-2022 surge of filings across sectors exposed to Chinese capacity-glut export pressure — consistent with parallel trade-remedy build-outs in the EU, India, Turkey, and other EM markets during 2024–26.

Open questions

• Will Abrint's January 2026 formal reconsideration request result in a GECEX public-interest

review and duty modulation (the Gecex 857/2026 electrical-steel precedent)?

• Does the moderate cable duty (USD 2.42/kg) shift Chinese OEM strategy toward in-Brazil assembly

at lower volumes, or does it simply redirect cable sourcing to non-Chinese suppliers (Japanese, South Korean, or European)?

• Is there a WTO dispute notification risk from China, given the combination of Gecex 829 and 837

together covering the full optical-fibre value chain?