(Reuters) -The world's largest car-carrying ship - with the equivalent of 20 football fields of vehicles - completed its maiden journey late last month to dock in Brazil's Itajai port. 

But not everyone is cheering its arrival.

BYD, China's top producer of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, is offering Brazilian car shoppers relatively low-priced options in a market where the green-car movement is still in its infancy. Brazilian auto-industry officials and labor leaders worry that the vast influx of cars from BYD and other Chinese automakers will set back domestic auto production and hurt jobs.

BYD has deployed a growing fleet of cargo ships to accelerate its expansion overseas, with Brazil becoming its top target, according to Reuters analysis of shipping data and company statements. The late-May shipment was the fourth of the Chinese carmaker's ships to dock in Brazil this year, totaling around 22,000 vehicles, according to Reuters calculations. 

BYD, the world's top producer of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, is the largest among several Chinese brands targeting Brazil for growth. China-built vehicle imports are expected to grow nearly 40% this year, to about 200,000, according to Brazil's main auto association. That would account for roughly 8% of total light-vehicle registrations.

Industry and labor groups say China is taking advantage of Brazil's temporarily low tariff barriers to ramp up its exports rather than investing to build Brazilian factories and create jobs. They are lobbying Brazil's government to accelerate by a year a plan to increase Brazil's tariff on all EV imports to 35% from 10%, rather than gradually phasing in higher levies.

"Countries around the world started closing their doors to the Chinese, but Brazil didn't," said Aroaldo da Silva, a Mercedes-Benz production worker and president of IndustriALL Brasil, a confederation of unions across six industrial sectors. "China made use of that."

BYD did not respond to a request for comment on the industry's concerns.

SURPLUS CARS

Brazil has emerged as a flashpoint in the China auto industry's torrid global expansion. A growing surplus of new cars being pumped out of Chinese factories has led to an export boom over the past five years, helping China pass Japan in 2023 to become the world's top vehicle exporter. Much of this excess is being shipped overseas, to markets like Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Brazil offers an enticing destination due to its large market - it is the sixth-largest car market by volume - where established players including Volkswagen, General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis have been building cars domestically for decades. The Brazilian government has set policies aimed at growing sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, BYD's specialty. 

Meanwhile, BYD's path for growth elsewhere has narrowed, both domestically and overseas. At home, the company is mired in a bruising price war that has seen it slash the price of its entry-level Seagull to below $10,000, squeezing profit margins.

Abroad, governments have erected stiff trade barriers for Chinese cars, including a 45.3% duty in Europe and a tariff of more than 100% in the United States, along with a ban on Chinese software in cars.

For years, Brazilian officials have taken steps to protect the market from unfettered access by Chinese car companies. But it has been slower to react and less aggressive than other nations.

In 2015, Brazil eliminated tariffs on manufacturers like BYD to spur electric vehicle adoption, but last year it reintroduced a 10% tariff on electric cars to encourage investment in the domestic auto industry. The tariff is scheduled to increase every six months before hitting 35% in 2026.

Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry & Foreign Trade told Reuters that a request by Brazil's auto association, ANFAVEA, and others to pull forward the higher tariff was under review.

"The schedule for the gradual resumption of tariffs, with decreasing quotas, was established to allow companies to continue with their development plans and respect the maturity of manufacturing in the country," a ministry spokesperson added.

BYD and other Chinese companies also are taking advantage of a policy in Brazil that allows them to import toll-free up to $169 million for plug-in hybrids imported by July 2025 and $226 million for battery-electric cars. That incentivizes front loading of vehicle shipments to fully benefit from the toll-free quotas before they expire, analysts said.

'EXCESS OF IMPORTS'

BYD's export strategy hinges on the carmaker being able to continue growing shipments without triggering resistance from local authorities. But industry representatives in Brazil have grown increasingly worried that BYD's plans to begin domestic vehicle production are being pushed off.

In 2023, government officials cheered BYD's plan to purchase a former Ford plant in the state of Bahia, viewing it as a way to create manufacturing jobs and spur the country's green transition. But an investigation into labor abuses on the construction site pushed back its timeline for "fully functional" production to December 2026, local officials said in May. 

Another Chinese automaker, GWM, also delayed by more than a year its plan to start making cars at a former Mercedes-Benz plant. The Brazilian government expects the plant to begin operating this year.

"We support the arrival of new brands in Brazil to produce, promote the components sector, create jobs and bring new technologies," Igor Calvet, president of ANFAVEA, told Reuters. "But from the moment that an excess of imports causes lower investment in production in Brazil, that worries us." 

Da Silva of IndustriALL said his confederation of unions had not heard of any local supplier relationships being developed or contracts being signed for the BYD plant, as would normally be expected 18 months from the start of production. 

"Even if the factory is here - what value is it really adding if the components, development, and technology is all from abroad?" da Silva said.

BYD did not respond to a request for comment on its supplier network.

President Lula da Silva's left-wing Workers Party government is scrambling to protect jobs and the environment as it aims to both revive Brazil's industrial economy and restore its green credentials ahead of hosting the COP30 global climate summit this November.

Still, the country's nascent green-car movement leans on Chinese imports, which account for more than 80% of Brazil's electric-car sales, according to Brazil's EV association, ABVE.

The country has abundant mineral resources including lithium and other key ingredients to make EV batteries. But the infrastructure to produce all the necessary components for electric cars does not exist yet, said Ricardo Bastos, director of government relations at GWM Brazil and president of ABVE.

GWM, which bought a factory in Brazil in 2021 with capacity for 50,000 cars a year and is due to start producing its Haval H6 SUV there this July, is in talks with around 100 Brazil-based suppliers on setting up contracts, Bastos told Reuters.

"This year, imported cars will coexist alongside cars produced in Brazil," Bastos said.