The announcement was made at an extra edition of the Official Gazette published on Friday, June 29 The furniture industry in Bento Gonçalves is celebrating the extension for another three months of the exemption on Taxes on Manufactured Products (IPI) charged on  furniture. The announcement was made at an extra edition of the Federal Official Gazette published last Friday, June 29, a day before the end of the advantage set forth in decree 7.705/2012 in March, on the first day of Movelsul.  Valid until September 30, the tax rate exemption – which was 5% - is also valid for veneer, wall paper and lighting. The partial data for April and May – the two first months the tax exemption was in place - showed an 8% growth in the industry of Bento Gonçalves, in comparison with the same period in 2011. In May alone, the turover reached R$ 213,110,000, which represented a nominal increase of 10.7% over the same month last year. June data are not yet available. For Cátia Scarton, president of Sindmóveis, the IPI reduction enabled the growth of the furniture industry overcoming the current economic hardship felt in other segments of the industry. "The extension is crucial so we can continue contributing to the generation of jobs and income to meet the increasing demand for furniture proven by the growth of the retail sector, and also so that we can compete with imported products," she said.